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PINOCCHIO 











































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He Redoubled His Efforts to Reach the Rock 














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COPYRIGHT, 1926 
ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY 
CHICAGO, U.S.A. 


A 

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OTHER WORLD-WIDE TITLES 


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(6 JUST RIGHT BOOKS” 
MADE IN THE U.S.A. 


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5 DCDtC ATeO »TO 

MARGU€fUT€-DrtY-DO UH€T 
AMD‘A)ARiON-MerCftLFe-UND0(J 









When Carlo Lorenzini wrote “L’Avventure di Pinocchi,” 
a tale of the adventures of a wooden puppet, he could scarcely 
have foreseen the long life and popularity that was to crown 
his work, first in his native country and later in other lands 
far afield. 

But in choosing a marionette for his hero Lorenzini struck 
the chord of popular appeal, for the love of play is inherent 
in all peoples. 

Carlo Lorenzini, born in 1826 or 1827—accounts seem to 
differ—and living until 1890, made his home in Florence for 
many years, employed in the Ministry of the Interior, and in 
journalistic work. When he retired from public life he devoted 
himself to writing for children, under the pen name of Collodi, 
his native town. 

No doubt Lorenzini meant this book to teach a moral. 
The story is like a sugar-coated pill, so thickly covered with 
the sweet spice of fun, adventure, and mystery that any mis¬ 
chievous little boy or girl will snap at it eagerly, and, once 
having penetrated the alluring exterior, gain permanent bene¬ 
fit by the moral dose within. For here we find a wealth of 
concrete examples of the wisdom of doing right and shunning 
wrong. 

We are told, with much sprightly humor in the telling, 
how poorly paid, in the long run, are laziness, deceit, envy, 
selfishness, disobedience and all the rest of the roll call of 
childish sins. The moral is neatly and clearly outlined: “Be 
good and you will be happy. If you want to be happy you 
must be good.” 










But it was the happy choice of a puppet for a hero that 
gave the story the tang and spice of novelty, and the sparkle 
of a fairy tale, that kept it from being too “goody goody,” 
and made it stand out against a host of imitators, so that 
with the passing of the years it has become a child classic. 

In spite of the popularity and universal acceptance of the 
moving pictures as a mode of public entertainment, there 
still exists a form of amusement that delighted Greek and 
Roman children, and their elders, too, before the Christian 
era dawned—the puppet show. 

In nearly every large American city there is a section 
known as “Little Italy” where the transplanted Italians have 
settled, bringing with them to their new country the customs, 
the cookery and the amusements of the homeland. And here 
flourishes the puppet show. I remember visiting one several 
years ago. A long, narrow room was filled with a chattering 
crowd, sitting contentedly on hard wooden benches, and look¬ 
ing eagerly toward the small stage at the farther end. There, 
hung upon a row of hooks, was a curious collection of limp 
and dangling marionettes, mere creatures of wood and wire, 
of cotton, velvet and tinsel. Dejected and lifeless they seemed, 
but a few minutes later when a one-man concertina orchestra 
had seated himself beside the platform, all was changed. The 
puppeteers climbed up into a balcony overlooking the stage, 
and each held the strings of a puppet (much as you may see 
Pinocchio holding the letters of the word “Introduction” in 
the sketch above). Then the marionettes began to walk and 
talk, to strut the stage and to act out their little comedies 
and tragedies, with all the fire and realism of flesh and blood 
actors. 

So does Carlo Lorenzini pull the strings of Pinocchio’s 
wayward impulses, and make him dance for our amusement. 
We laugh at his shortcomings, but we are warned by his 
mistakes. And we are glad to see him transformed into a real 
boy at the last, with a real boy’s chances of success in the 
world. 


Violet Moore Higgins. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter Page 

I Master Cherry and the Laughing 

Log. 15 

II The Laughing Log Gets a New 

Master . 19 

III The Log Is Given a Name. 22 

IV The Talking Cricket. 29 

V The Flying Omelet. 34 

VI Home Again.. 38 

VII Geppetto Returns. 42 

VIII New Feet and New Clothes. 47 

IX Pinocchio Starts to School. 52 

X Wooden Headed Friends. 58 

XI Pinocchio Acts the Hero. 63 

XII Pinocchio Makes Some New Ac¬ 
quaintances . 68 

XIII At the Red Lobster Inn. 76 

XIV Pinocchio Pursued. 83 

XV Pinocchio Caught. 88 

XVI Pinocchio Rescued. 92 

XVII The Lengthening Nose. 97 

XVIII Old Friends. 104 




















Chapter Page 

XIX The End of a Golden Dream. 112 

XX Nothing But Trouble. 117 

XXI Pinocchio Becomes a Watchdog. 121 

XXII Pinocchio Becomes a Hero. 125 

XXIII A Sorrow and a Far Journey. 130 

XXIV A Wonderful Meeting. 139 

XXV Pinocchio Is Given a Promise. 148 

XXVI School at Last. 153 

XXVII In Trouble Again. 158 

XXVIII The Strange Fisherman. 168 

XXIX The Prodigal Returns. 176 

XXX Off For a New Country. 187 

XXXI The Talking Donkey. 195 

XXXII Donkey Fever. 204 

XXXIII The Dancing Donkey. 212 

XXXIV Pinocchio Plays Jonah. 223 

XXXV A Meeting and an Escape. 233 

XXXVI A Boy at Last. 239 





















LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 

Frontispiece . 4 

In the country of nothing but play. 14 

He was overjoyed when he saw the piece of wood. 17 

Why do you glare at me so?. 23 

It commenced to light at him. 24 

He dashed into the street. 27 

Pinocchio talking to the Cricket. 31 

He found a egg in some rubbish in the corner. 35 

A basin of water was poured on him. 39 

He fell asleep . 40 

He fell flat on the floor.43 

Threw his arms around Geppetto’s neck. 51 

Pinocchio starts for school. 53 

Will you give me four pennies for this ABC book?. 55 

A last leap brought him on the stage. 59 

It is impossible to describe the hugs that Pinocchio 

received . 60 

They returned to the kitchen dragging Pinocchio. 62 

Pinocchio threw himsellf at the feet of the manager. 66 

Pinocchio, the Cat and the Fox. 74 

He was just about to grasp it when he was awakened by 

a knocking . 77 

They were all gold pieces and made a tinkling noise. 79 

Pinocchio at the top of a tree. 86 

In a little while you will be well. 98 

The Woodpeckers perched on Pinocchio’s nose.107 

Pinocchio buried the money.110 


























Page 

Pinocchio in the trap.120 

Saying to himself, “It serves me right”.124 

They soared so high they almost touched the clouds.135 

He had to put it on his head.145 

“I will be good”.152 

Pinocchio at school.154 

Pinocchio was always first in a race.157 

Pinocchio is arrested.163 

The last to be taken from the net was Pinocchio.173 

He tried to pull it out but he could not.183 

Pinocchio and Candlewick in dunce caps.209 

Pinocchio is led out to be sold.214 

Pinocchio is pulled up again.224 

He had become a boy.251 

The old puppet leaning against a chair.253 


















In the Country of Nothing hut Play 






















































































PINOCCHIO 



MASTER CHERRY AND THE LAUGHING LOG 

Once upon a time there was— 

“A king?” my little readers will cry in¬ 
stantly. 

No, children, you are mistaken. Once upon 
a time there was a piece of wood. It was 
not fine wood, but a simple stick, such as we 
put in stoves and fireplaces, to make a blaze 
and heat the rooms. 

I do not know how it happened, but one 
day an old woodcutter found this wood in 
his shop. The old man’s name was Antonio, 
but everybody called him Master Cherry, on 


16 


PINOCCHIO 


account of his nose, which was always red 
and polished on the end, like a ripe cherry. 
He was overjoyed when he saw the piece of 
wood, and rubbed his hands together in satis¬ 
faction, mumbling to himself. “This is just 
the thing to make into a table leg.” 

He began at once, raising a sharp axe to 
peel the bark and shape the wood, but just 
as he was on the point of striking, he stopped 
with his arm still in air, for he heard a tiny, 
thin little voice say, “Do not strike me so 
hard.” 

Imagine the surprise of good old Master 
Cherry! He turned his frightened eyes 
around the room to find the source of the 
voice, but saw no one. He looked under the 
bench, and no one was there; he looked in a 
cupboard that was always kept closed, but it 
was empty; he looked in a basket of chips 
and shavings; he even opened the door to 
glance into the street. Who could it be? 

“Oh I see,” he said finally, scratching his 
wig and laughing. “Evidently I imagined 
I heard that little voice. I will just get to 
work again.” 


PINOCCHIO 


17 



He Was Overjoyed When He Saw the Piece of Wood 


He took up the axe and gave the wood a 
tremendous blow. 

“Oh! Oh! You hurt me,” cried the little 
voice, as if in great pain. 

This time Master Cherry was dumb with 
fright. His eyes were nearly popping out of 
his head, his mouth was opened wide, and 
his tongue hung out like that of a thirsty 
dog. As soon as he could speak he said, 
trembling and stammering with fright, “But 
where does that little voice come from? 
There is nothing alive in this room. Can this 
piece of wood have learned to cry and scream 
like a baby? I cannot believe it. This is just 
an ordinary stick for the fireplace, like all the 
other pieces we use when boiling a pot of 















18 


PINOCCHIO 


beans. Well then? What if there is someone 
hidden inside? If there is, so much the worse 
for him. I’ll settle him.” And at that he 
seized the poor piece of wood with both 
hands and knocked it against the wall with¬ 
out mercy. 

At last he stopped to see if any voice com¬ 
plained. He waited two minutes and heard 
nothing; five minutes, and there was noth¬ 
ing; ten minutes more, and still there was 
nothing, and then, forcing a laugh, and rub¬ 
bing his wig, he said to himself: “I only 
imagined I heard that voice. I will go back 
to work.” And because he was somewhat 
frightened, he tried to hum an air to give 
himself courage. Putting aside his axe he 
took up a plane to make the wood even and 
smooth, but as he worked he heard again the 
little voice, laughing this time, say: “Stop! 
You are tickling me.” 

Poor Master Cherry fell down as if he had 
been shot. When at last he opened his eyes, 
he found himself seated on the floor. His face 
expressed nothing but amazement, and the 
end of his rosy nose had become fairly blue 
from fear. 





THE LAUGHING LOG GETS A NEW MASTER 

Just at this minute there was a knock at 
the door. 

“Come in,” said the woodcutter, not yet 
strong enough to rise. There entered at once 
a lively old man whose name was Geppetto, 
but who was often called Polendina by the 
mischievous little boys of the neighborhood 
when they wished to make him angry, be¬ 
cause the yellow wig he always wore greatly 
resembled a big yellow corn pudding (in 
Italy called Polendina). 

“Good morning, Master Antonio” he said. 
“What are you doing there on the floor?” 


20 


PINOCCHIO 


“I am teaching the ants their A B C’s.” 

“A great deal of good that will do you.” 

“Maybe” answered Antonio, “but what has 
brought you to me, neighbor Geppetto?” 

“My legs. But to be frank, I have come to 
ask a favor of you.” 

“Here I am, ready to serve you,” replied 
the woodcutter, getting up on his knees. 

“Well, this morning I had an idea.” 

“Indeed! Let me hear it Geppetto.” 

“I thought that I would make a pretty 
wooden puppet. I mean a really wonderful 
marionette; one that can dance, walk and 
jump. With it I could travel through the 
world and earn my bread as I went.” 

“But how can I help you in that matter, 
neighbor Geppetto?” 

“I want a piece of wood to make the mari¬ 
onette. Will you give me one?” 

Gladly, Master Antonio took up th^ piece 
of wood that had frightened him so. But just 
as he was about to hand it to Geppetto, the 
piece of wood gave a shake, and wriggling 




PIN OCCHIO 


21 


violently from his hands, fell and struck the 
shins of poor Geppetto. 

“Ah, is that the polite way you make pres¬ 
ents? Really Master Antonio, you have all 
but lamed me for life.” 

“I swear to you that I did not do it.” 

“But it certainly was you who threw the 
stick at me, Master Antonio.” 

“I did not hit you. The wood is entirely to 
blame.” 

“I know the wood hit me but it was in 
your hand.” 

“No, no, it was not.” 

But nothing could settle the question short 
of a battle, and for a few moments the two 
fought valiantly. When Master Antonio had 
two scratches on his nose, and Geppetto had 
lost two buttons from his coat, the account 
was called squared. The two shook hands 
and vowed to remain good friends for the 
rest of their lives, whereupon Geppetto took 
the piece of wood under his arm and, thank¬ 
ing Master Antonio for his courtesy, limped 
back to his home. 





THE LOG IS GIVEN A NAME 

Geppetto lived in a small room on the 
ground floor. It was lighted from one win¬ 
dow under a staircase, and the furniture 
could not have been more simple—a broken 
chair, a hard bed and a tumble-down table. 
At one side of the room was a fireplace with 
wood burning in it, but the fire was only 
painted there, and above it there was also 
painted a saucepan, boiling cheerfully and 
sending out such clouds of steam all around 
it that it seemed quite real. 

As soon as he reached home Geppetto got 
out his tools and began to make his mari- 


PINOCCHIO 


23 


onette. “What shall 
I call him?” he said 
to himself as he 
worked. “Well, I be¬ 
lieve I will call him 
Pinocchio. That 
name should bring 
him good luck. I once 
knew a whole family 
called Pinocchio. 

There was Pinocchio 
the father, Pinocchio 
the mother, and sev¬ 
eral little Pinocchios, 
and all of them did 
well. They were a happy family. The richest 
of them was a beggar.” 

As soon as he had found a name for his 
marionette he began to work with a will. 
Quickly he made the forehead, then the hair, 
and next the eyes. When he had finished 
the eyes, imagine his surprise as he saw them 
look all around the room, and finally gaze 
at him fixedly! Geppetto, stared at by those 
two wooden eyes, said: “Why do you glare 
at me so, wicked wooden eyes?” 






24 


PINOCCHIO 


But there was no answer. 

After he had made the eyes he carved the 
nose, but no sooner was it done than it began 
to grow, and it grew and grew and grew, 
until in a few moments it had become a great 
big nose, and poor Geppetto thought it would 
never stop, for although he tried hard to 
shorten it, the more he cut it off the longer 
that impertinent nose became. Tired of try¬ 
ing, he began presently on the mouth. It 
was hardly finished when it commenced to 
laugh at him. 

“Stop laughing,” cried Geppetto angrily, 
but he might as well have talked to the wall. 
“Stop laughing,” he cried again, threaten¬ 
ingly, and the mouth obeyed, only to begin 
grimacing at him. Geppetto pretended not 
to see this and went on 
working. After the mouth 
he made the chin, then the 
neck, and the shoulders, 
then the body, and finally the 
arms and hands. Scarcely 
had he finished the hands 
when he felt his wig 
" c ~hL‘° Laugh snatched off. He t u r n e d 






PINOCCHIO 


25 


quickly, and there was his yellow wig in the 
hands of the marionette. “Pinocchio, give it 
back to me immediately,” said the old man. 
But Pinocchio, instead of obeying put it on 
his own head, and was nearly smothered by 
it. This insolence and disobedience made 
Geppetto feel sadder than he had ever been 
before in all his life. Turning to the puppet 
he said sadly, “Bad little boy! Here you are 
not even finished yet, and already you are 
showing utter lack of respect for your father. 
Bad, bad boy.” And he wiped away a tear. 

There were now only the legs and feet to 
make. Scarcely were they finished than they 
began to kick poor Geppetto. “I deserve it,” 
he said to himself. “I should have known this 
would happen. Now it is too late.” He took 
the marionette in his arms, and put him on 
the ground floor to teach him how to walk. 
Pinocchio behaved at first as if his legs were 
asleep or very stiff, and he could not move 
them, but Geppetto led him about the room 
by the hand, and showed him how to put one 
foot in front of the other. When his legs had 
become more limber, he began to walk by 




26 


PINOCCHIO 


himself, and then to run about the room and 
then, when he saw that the street door was 
open, he dashed into the street and ran away. 
Poor Geppetto ran after him as fast as he 
could, but he was not able to overtake him. 
Pinocchio leaped like a rabbit, his wooden 
feet clattering on the pavement like twenty 
pairs of little wooden shoes. 

“Stop him! Stop him!” cried Geppetto as 
he ran, but the people in the street, seeing a 
wooden marionette running as fast as a rab¬ 
bit, stopped to watch and began to laugh, 
and laughed and laughed and laughed—with 
an enjoyment quite beyond description. At 
last, as luck would have it, a carabineer ap¬ 
peared and hearing all the uproar, thought 
that a colt had escaped from its master. He 
planted himself in the middle of the road, 
and waited, determined to catch the run¬ 
away. Pinocchio when still at some distance, 
saw the soldier blocking the whole street, 
and tried to pass between his legs, but could 
not do it. The soldier, with scarcely an 
effort seized the puppet by the nose, that 
ridiculous big nose, just the right size for a 




PINOCCHIO 


27 



He Dashed into the Street 

soldier to grasp, and handed him over to 
Geppetto, who intended to punish him by 
boxing his ears. But just imagine his feel¬ 
ings! When looking for the ears he could 
not find them! And do you know why? Be¬ 
cause in his haste to make Pinocchio he had 
not finished carving them. But taking him 
by the neck Geppetto led him away saying 




















28 


PINOCCHIO 


as he did so: “When we get home I shall 
punish you. Be sure of that.” 

Pinocchio, at this threat threw himself on 
the ground, and would not go another step. 
In the meantime a crowd of idlers began to 
gather around them. “Poor marionette,” said 
one of them, “No wonder he does not want 
to go back to his home. Who knows how 
hard old Geppetto beats him?” And others 
added maliciously: “That Geppetto appears 
to be a kind man, but he is a tyrant with 
boys. If he gets that poor marionette in his 
hands, he will break him apart.” 

Finally they made so much noise that the 
soldier set Pinocchio free and took poor old 
Geppetto to prison. The old man could not 
find words at first, to defend himself, and 
wept bitterly, but as he was led away to 
prison he stammered out: “Wicked boy! And 
to think I tried so hard to make him a good 
marionette! But it served me right. I ought 
to have known at first that this would 
happen.” 

What happened after is a story so strange 
that it is almost beyond all belief, but still I 
will relate it to you. 





THE TALKING CRICKET 

Now children, while poor old Geppetto 
was led to prison, for no fault of his, that 
imp Pinocchio finding himself free, took to 
his heels and ran toward the fields in order 
to reach his home the faster. In his haste he 
jumped great mounds of earth, thorn hedges 
and ditches filled with water exactly as do 
rabbits and deer when chased by the hunters. 



30 


PINOCCHIO 


Arriving at the house he found the street 
door ajar. He pushed it open, entered the 
room and bolted the door. Then he threw 
himself down on the floor and heaved a great 
sigh of relief. But his satisfaction did not 
last very long, for soon he heard some one 
in the room cry out, “Cri-cri-cri.” 

“Who is speaking to me?” asked Pinocchio 
in a fright. 

“It is I.” 

Pinocchio turned around, and saw a large 
cricket crawling up the wall. 

“Tell me, Cricket, who are you?” he asked. 

“I am the Talking Cricket, and I have lived 
in this room for more than a hundred years.” 

“Well this room is mine now,” said the 
marionette, “and if you want to oblige me 
you will go away immediately without even 
turning around once.” 

“I will not go away,” said the Cricket 
“without telling you a great truth.” 

“Tell it to me then and be quick about it.” 

“Woe to boys who rebel against their par¬ 
ents and who run away from their homes 
whenever the fancy strikes them. They will 




PINOCCHIO 


31 


never come to any 
good end, and sooner 
or later will repent 
bitterly.” “Oh sing 
away, little cricket, if 
it pleases you; as 
for me I have made up 
my mind to run away 
tomorrow at daybreak, 
because if I remain here, what happens to all 
other boys will happen to me. I shall have to 
go to school and be made to study; and I will 
tell you in confidence that I have no wish to 



Pinocchio Talking to the Cricket 













32 


PINOCCHIO 


study at all, but I propose to play and run 
after butterflies, and climb trees, and take 
the little birds out of their nests.” 

“You poor little stupid goose, you! Do you 
know that way you will become a donkey, 
and that everybody will make fun of you?” 

“Hold your tongue, you dismal little 
Cricket,” cried Pinocchio. 

But the Cricket, who was a patient phi¬ 
losopher, instead of becoming angry at this 
impertinence, continued in the same tone of 
voice; “And if you do not want to go to 
school, why not at least learn a trade, so as 
to be able to earn your bread honestly?” 

“Why? Well if you want to know I’ll tell 
you,” replied Pinocchio who began to grow 
out of patience, “because among the trades 
of the world there is only one that suits my 
genius.” 

“And what trade may that me?” 

“That of eating, drinking, sleeping and 
amusing myself, and living an easy life from 
morning till night.” 

“Those who live that way,” said the Talk¬ 
ing Cricket, with his usual calmness, “always 
end in the hospital or in prison.” 


PINOCCHIO 


33 


“Look out, you croaking old Cricket, look 
out! If you make me angry I shall be sorry 
for you.” 

“Poor Pinocchio! It is you that will need 
pity. I really feel sorry for you.” 

“And why, I should like to know?” 

“Because you are a puppet, and what is 
worse, because you have a wooden head.” 

At these last words Pinocchio jumped up 
in a rage, and snatching a hammer from the 
work bench flung it at the Talking Cricket. 
Perhaps he had never meant to hit him, but 
unfortunately the hammer struck him on the 
head, so that the poor Cricket had only 
breath to give one last cry of “Cri-cri-cri” 
before he was flattened upon the wall. 






THE FLYING OMELET 

Meanwhile the night was coming on, and 
Pinocchio remembering that he had eaten 
nothing all day, felt a gnawing in his stom¬ 
ach that strongly resembled appetite. Now 
the appetite of boys increases very quickly, 
and so after a few minutes the appetite be¬ 
came real hunger, and in no time he was as 
hungry as a wolf. Poor Pinocchio ran 
quickly to the fireplace where there was the 
saucepan still boiling away, and tried to see 
what was in it, but found to his surprise that 
it was only a painting. His nose, already 
long, began to grow longer as he went about 
poking it into things. He ran around the 
room, rummaging through all the drawers 
and boxes and all sorts of hiding places in 
search of a piece of bread, just a little dry 



PINOCCHIO 


35 


crust, a dog’s bone, a bit of mush, a fish bone, 
a cherry pit, in fact anything at all to eat, 
but he found absolutely nothing. 

And still his hunger grew and grew. Poor 
Pinocchio had no other relief than that of 
yawning, and he gaped so tremendously that 
sometimes the corners of his mouth almost 
touched his ears. He began to feel faint and 
dizzy. Crying desperately he sobbed; “The 
Talking Cricket was right. I have behaved 
badly in rebelling against my father and run¬ 
ning away. If my father were only here now 
I should not be starv¬ 
ing to death. Oh, 
what a horrible feeling 
it is.” 

Just then he thought 
he saw something 
very much resembling 
a hen’s egg, lying on 
top of a rubbish heap. 

It needed only a sec¬ 
ond to jump to the 
spot, and there he 
really saw a nice big 



egg. 


He Found an Egg in Some 
Rubbish in the Corner 





36 


PINOCCHIO 


It is impossible to describe his joy. You 
would have to be a marionette to understand 
it. Almost fearing that it might be a dream 
he kept turning the egg in his hand, and 
smoothing it. Kissing it, he said; “And now, 
how shall I cook it? Shall I make an omelet? 
No, I think it would be better to poach it. 
Or maybe it would be more tasty scrambled. 
Or instead of cooking it I might drink it raw. 
No, after all I believe the nicest way will be 
to cook it in a saucepan.” 

No sooner said than done. Finding a little 
earthenware dish, he put it over a small 
brazier (a little portable stove much used in 
Italy with charcoal or wood shavings as 
fuel). In the dish, instead of butter he 
poured a little water. When the water began 
to steam, he broke the shell—tac—and held 
it over the steaming saucepan. Just as he was 
in the act of pouring out the egg, instead of 
the yolk there appeared a little chicken, very 
lively and polite. Making a beautiful bow, it 
said, “Many thanks, Mr. Pinocchio for saving 
me the trouble of breaking my own shell. 
Goodby! Be good. And do give my regards 
to the family.” 




PINOCCHIO 


37 


With this the little chicken spread its 
wings and flew out of the open window, and 
was soon out of sight. The poor marionette 
stood there stupefied with his eyes staring, 
and open mouthed, the egg shell still in his 
hand. He soon came to himself, however, 
and began to cry and scream, and stamp his 
feet on the floor in desperation. Between 
sobs he said, “Oh yes, the Talking Cricket 
was right. If I had not run away, my father 
would be here, and in that case I should not 
be starving to death. Oh what a dreadful 
thing it is.” 

And because he was more miserable than 
ever, and because he did not know what else 
to do, he thought he would leave the house 
and go to the neighboring town, in the hope 
of finding some charitable person who would 
help him, and give him a piece of bread. 





HOME AGAIN 

It was a wild and stormy night. It thun¬ 
dered heavily, and the lightning seemed to 
set the heavens on fire, while a bitter wind 
whistled savagely and raised a great cloud 
of dust. Pinocchio was afraid of thunder and 
lightning, but his hunger was stronger than 
his fear, so he left the house and made a dash 
for the village, reaching it in a hundred leaps 
quite out of breath, and panting heavily. He 
was faint and weak with hunger and fright. 
But he found the town dark and deserted. 
The shops were closed, the doors of the 
houses were shut, and the windows bolted, 
and there was not even a dog to be seen in 
the streets. In desperation Pinocchio seized 


PINOCCHIO 


39 



the doorbell 
at one of the 
d arkened 
houses, and 
rang it with 
all his might 
saying to 
himself, 
“That will 
bring some¬ 
body.” 

And so it 
did. Soon a cross 
little old man with 
a night cap on his 
head appeared at 
an upper window, 
and called angrily, 
“What do you 
want at such an 
hour?” 

“Will you please 
give me a little 

A Basin of Water Was Poured on Him bread?” 

“Wait a moment and I will give you some¬ 
thing,” replied the old man, thinking he had 










40 


PINOCCHIO 


to deal with one of those rascally boys who 
amuse themselves at night by ringing the 
house bells of respectable people, sleeping 
quietly. A moment later he shouted to 
Pinocchio, “Come under the window and 
hold out your hands.” 

Pinocchio obeyed, and as he did so an 
enormous basin of water was poured down 
on him, wetting him from head to foot as if 
he had been a pot of dried up geraniums. 
Dripping and miserable he returned home, 
weak from hunger and tired out. Having no 
longer strength to stand, he dropped into a 
chair, and resting his damp 
and muddy feet on the 
brazier in which a few 
shavings still burned he 
fell asleep. And as he slept 
his wooden feet caught 
fire, and little by lit¬ 
tle burned to ashes. 

Pinocchio, however, 
slept on, and snored 
away just as if his 
feet belonged to 
someone else. 



He Fell Asleep 







PINOCCHIO 


41 


He was awakened the next morning by 
someone knocking at the door. 

“Who is there?” he asked, yawning and 
rubbing his eyes. 

“It is I,” replied a voice. The voice was the 
voice of Geppetto. 




GEPPETTO RETURNS 

Poor Pinocchio who was still half asleep, 
had not yet noticed that his feet had been 
burned off. But at the sound of Geppetto’s 
voice he jumped off his chair to run and open 
the door. Instead, after staggering a little 
he fell flat on the floor, and in falling he made 
as much noise as a sack of wood would make 
in falling from the fifth story of a house. 

“Open the door,” shouted Geppetto from 
the street. 

“Oh father, I cannot,” replied the mario¬ 
nette crying and rolling about on the floor. 

“Why?” 

“Because someone has eaten my feet.” 

“And who has eaten them?” 

“The cat,” said Pinocchio, seeing a cat 
playing with some shavings on the floor. 



PINOCCHIO 


43 



He Fell Flat on the Floor 


“Open the door, I tell you” repeated Gep- 
petto, “If you don’t, when I get into the 
house I shall whip you.” 

“But I cannot stand up, really I cannot. 
Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall have to walk on 
my knees all my life.” 

Geppetto, believing that all this crying was 
only another trick to fool him, discovered a 
way to put an end to the matter, and climb¬ 
ing up he entered the house through a win¬ 
dow. He was very angry at first, but when 
he saw Pinocchio stretched out on the floor 
unable to walk, he was quite overcome, and 
taking the puppet in his arms he kissed him 
tenderly. As tears ran down his cheeks he 
cried, “My dear little Pinocchio, how did you 
burn your feet?” 










44 


PINOCCHIO 


“I do not really know, father,” said the 
marionette, “but it has been a horrible night, 
and I shall remember it as long as I live.” 

Sobbing out a confused account of his 
night’s misfortunes, from the talking cricket 
and the flying egg to the pitcher of water he 
ended: “And now I have no feet any more, 
and I am still hungry. Oh dear, oh dear,” and 
poor Pinocchio began to cry so hard that he 
could be heard for miles. 

Geppetto had understood only one thing 
from all this jumbled story, and that was that 
the marionette was dying of hunger, so he 
made haste to pull three pears out of his 
pocket, and handing them to the puppet he 
said, “These were to have been my break¬ 
fast, but I will give them to you gladly. Eat 
them and I hope you will feel better.” 

“If you want me to eat these pears, you 
will have to peel them for me.” 

“Peel them?” repeated Geppetto in sur¬ 
prise. “I would never have believed that you 
could be so hard to please. Bad boy! In this 
world little boys must eat what is given to 
them.” 




PINOCCHIO 


45 


“That may be” said Pinocchio, “But I 
never eat fruit unless it is peeled. I simply 
cannot eat the skins.” 

And would you believe it, that good man 
Geppetto took from his pocket a small knife, 
and patiently peeled the three pears, putting 
all the skins on the corner of the table. After 
Pinocchio had gobbled down the first pear in 
two bites, he was about to throw away the 
core, when Geppetto caught his arm, and 
said, “Do not throw the core away. Every¬ 
thing in this world has its use.” 

“But I never eat the core,” cried the mari¬ 
onette, turning on him fiercely. “All right, 
all right,” said Geppetto, without losing his 
temper. And so the three cores, instead of 
being thrown away were placed on the corner 
of the table with the skins. Having eaten, 
or rather, having devoured the three pears, 
Pinocchio gave a great yawn and said “I am 
still hungry.” 

“But my boy, I have nothing more to give 
you.” 

“Not another thing?” 

“Absolutely nothing, except those skins 
and cores.” 




46 


PINOCCHIO 


“Oh well,” said Pinocchio, “if there is 
nothing more I will eat the skins.” 

And he began to eat them. At first he 
puckered his mouth, but one after another 
the skins disappeared. After the skins he ate 
the cores also. When he had eaten every¬ 
thing, he clasped his hands contentedly over 
his stomach and said “Now I feel better.” 

“You see now,” said Geppetto, “That I 
was right when I told you that you must 
accustom yourself to what is given you and 
not be too dainty. My dear boy, no one ever 
knows what may happen in this world, so 
always be prepared for the worst.” 




NEW FEET AND NEW CLOTHES 

No sooner had the marionette satisfied his 
hunger than he began to grumble and cry 
because he wanted a new pair of feet. But 
Geppetto, in order to punish him for his 
naughtiness, let him cry for half a day. Then 
he said: “And why should I make you a new 
pair of feet? Perhaps you would run away 
again.” 

“I promise you,” said the marionette sob¬ 
bing, “that hereafter I will be a good boy.” 

“All boys” said Geppetto “When they want 
to get something, say that.” 

“I promise you that I will go to school, I 
will study, and I will be an honor.” 






48 


PINOCCHIO 


“All boys, when they want to get some¬ 
thing tell the same story.” 

“But I am not like other boys. I am better 
than all the rest and I always speak the truth. 
I promise you, father, that I will learn a 
trade, and that I will be your consolation and 
support in your old age.” 

Geppetto wore a stern look, but his eyes 
were filled with tears, and his heart was full 
of pity when he saw poor little Pinocchio in 
such a state. Without a word he took up 
his tools, and two small pieces of wood, and 
began to work very diligently. In less than 
an hour the new feet were finished. They 
were nimble and nervous feet, and were 
made so beautifully that they might have 
been carved by a great artist. Then Gep¬ 
petto said to the marionette, “Close your 
eyes, and go to sleep.” 

Pinocchio closed his eyes and pretended to 
sleep, and meantime Geppetto stuck on the 
two feet with a little glue, melted in the egg¬ 
shell, doing it so well that one could hardly 
see the places where they were joined. As 
soon as the marionette saw that his feet were 


PINOCCHIO 


49 


on he jumped down and began to dance 
around as if he were mad with joy. 

“In order to pay you back for your kind¬ 
ness” he said, “I will go to school immedi¬ 
ately.” 

“Good boy.” 

“But to go to school I need some clothes.” 

So Geppetto, who was so poor that he had 
not a cent in his pocket, made him a beauti¬ 
ful suit of clothes from some flowered paper, 
a pair of shoes from the bark of a tree, and a 
cap of stale breadcrumbs all moulded to¬ 
gether. Pinocchio ran immediately to look 
at himself in a tub filled with water, and he 
was so delighted with his appearance that he 
strutted about proudly and said, “Really I 
look quite like a gentleman.” 

“Yes indeed” replied Geppetto, “because, 
bear in mind, it is not fine clothes so much as 
clean ones that make the gentleman.” 

“By the way,” added the marionette, “Now 
to go to school there is only one other thing 
I lack.” 


‘What is that? 




50 


PINOCCHIO 


“Why I have no A B C book?” 

“You are right, but how can I get one?” 

“That is easy. Go to the book store and 
buy it.” 

“And the money?” 

“Well I haven’t any.” 

“Neither have I,” answered the good old 
man very sadly. Pinocchio, although his was 
a merry nature looked sad too, because real 
poverty is understood by everybody, even by 
boys. 

“Wait a minute,” cried Geppetto, suddenly, 
getting to his feet. Taking off his old coat, 
all darned and patched, he ran out of the 
house, the coat under his arm. After a little 
while he returned with the ABC book in 
his hand, but his coat was gone. The poor 
man was in his shirt sleeves, and it was 
snowing outside too. 

“Your coat, father?” cried Pinocchio. 

“I have sold it.” 


Why did you sell it?” 




PINOCCHIO 


51 


“Because it made me too warm.” 

Pinocchio understood in an instant, and 
not being able to restrain his feelings, he 
jumped up, threw his arms around Geppet- 
to’s neck and kissed him again and again. 



Threw His Arms Around 
Geppetto’s Neck 



PINOCCHIO STARTS TO SCHOOL 
The snow having stopped, Pinocchio, with 
his nice ABC book under his arm, started 
for school. As he walked along he began to 
imagine a thousand things and to build a 
thousand air castles, each new one more 
beautiful than the others. To himself he said, 
“Today at school I will learn to read at once; 
tomorrow I will learn to write; and then the 
day after tomorrow I will master my num¬ 
bers. Then with all that learning I can earn 
many pennies, and with the first ones that 
fill my pocket I will order a nice new cloth 
suit for my father. Cloth indeed? Why need 





PINOCCHIO 


53 



A 


it be cloth? Silk? It 
shall be a suit of gold, 
lined with silver and 
fastened with diamond 
buttons. The poor 
man really deserves it, 
because in order to 
buy me an A B C book 
so I could go to school, 
he is now in his shirt 


sleeves, and in the cold 
^ weather too! There 


Pinocchio Starts for School are not many fathers 
who would sacrifice so much.” 

While he was talking this way to himself 
he thought he heard the music of a fife and 
the beating of a drum, —pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi, 
zum, zum, zum. He stopped to listen. The 
sounds came from the end of a long street 
that led to the sea. “What is that beautiful 
music? It is too bad that I have to go to 
school. If—” And he stopped and stood 
there, irresolute. He must decide now 
whether to go to school or to listen to the fife 
and drum. “Today I will go and hear the 
fife and drum,” the little rascal decided at 









54 


PINOCCHIO 


last, “and tomorrow I will go to school. 
There is always time to go to school.” 

No sooner said than done. He turned down 
the street and ran as hard as he could. The 
more he ran, the more distinct became the 
sound of the fife and drum, pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi, 
pi-pi-pi, zum, zum, zum. Soon he found him¬ 
self in the middle of an open square filled 
with people, all crowding around a little 
wooden building with a sign painted in many 
bright colors. 

“What is that house?” asked Pinocchio, 
turning to a boy standing near. 

“Read the sign and you will know” the boy 
answered. 

“I wish I could, but it so happens that to¬ 
day I do not know how to read. Tomorrow 
I could read it.” 

“Blockhead! I will read it for you. On 
that sign with letters of fire is written, 
‘Grand Puppet Theater’.” 

“How soon does the show begin?” 

“It is beginning just now.” 





fTill You Give Me Four Pennies for This ABC Book? 



























56 


PINOCCHIO 


'‘And how much does it cost to get in?” 

“Four pennies.” 

Pinocchio was wild with curiosity, and for¬ 
getting all his good resolutions, shamelessly 
turned to the boy and said, “Would you lend 
me four pennies until tomorrow?” 

“Willingly, if I had them, but today I have 
not a one to spare.” 

“For four pennies I will sell you my 
jacket” said the marionette. 

“What good would a paper jacket be to 
me? If it was rained on it would fall in 
pieces.” 

“I will sell you my shoes.” 

“All they are good for is to start a fire.” 

“How much will you give me for my cap?” 

“Nice bargain indeed, a cap of bread¬ 
crumbs. Why, the mice might come out and 
eat it off my head.” 

Pinocchio was in despair. He stood there 
not knowing what to do next. He hardly had 
the courage to offer the last thing he had. 
He hesitated for a while, but at last he said, 
“Will you give me four pennies for this A B 
C book?” 




PINOCCHIO 


57 


“I am a boy and I do not buy from boys,” 
replied his companion, who had more com¬ 
mon sense than the puppet. 

“For four pennies I will buy the ABC 
book,” said a seller of old clothes, who had 
been listening to the conversation. So the 
book was sold then and there. And to think 
that poor Geppetto had remained at home in 
his shirt sleeves, shivering with cold, just to 
buy that ABC book for his son! 






WOODEN HEADED FRIENDS 

When Pinocchio entered the puppet play¬ 
house something very surprising happened. 
The curtain was up and the comedy had be¬ 
gun. On the stage Harlequin and Punchi¬ 
nello were quarreling with each other, and 
threatening every minute to come to blows. 
The audience, all attention, laughed loudly 
at the quarrel between the two marionettes 
who gesticulated and acted out their threats 
of abusing each other as naturally as if they 
had been real human beings. 

Suddenly Harlequin stopped short, and 
turning toward the audience and pointing to 
some one in the rear of the theater he 
shouted in a highly dramatic tone: “What 
do my eyes behold? Do I dream or am I 
awake? Surely that boy there is Pinocchio.” 

“It certainly is,” cried Punchinello. 


PINOCCHIO 59 



“It’s Pinocchio—it is, it is” screamed Rosa, 
peeping from behind the scenes. 

“Pinocchio! It is Pinocchio!” shouted all 
the marionettes coming out from the wings 
onto the stage. 

“Pinocchio, come up here to me” cried 
Harlequin, “Come and throw your arms 
around your wooden brothers.” 

At this affectionate invitation Pinocchio 
made a great leap from the back part of the 
theater to the reserved section, another jump 
from there to the head of the orchestra 
leader, and from there a last leap brought 











60 


PINOCCHIO 


him on the stage. It is impossible to describe 
the kisses, hugs, words of endearment, and 
wooden headed sayings of brotherly affection 
that Pinocchio received from the excited 
manikins of that puppet company. It was a 
touching sight, but the audience, seeing that 
the comedy was stopped, grew impatient, and 
began to yell, “We want the play—go on 
with the play.” 

It was breath thrown away, for the mari¬ 
onettes, instead of continuing the dialogue, 
redoubled their noise, and lifting Pinocchio 
to their shoulders they carried him in tri¬ 
umph upon the stage. 


At that moment came the manager, a big 
man who made people tremble at a look. His 



It Is Impossible to Describe the Hugs That Pinocchio Received 





PINOCCHIO 


61 


beard, black as ink, reached to his feet, and 
almost tripped him as he walked. His mouth 
was as big as an oven, his eyes were like two 
lanterns of red glass with lights burning in 
them, and he carried a great whip made of 
snake skins and fox tails twisted together, 
and kept cracking it furiously. At his sudden 
and unexpected appearance, all the mario¬ 
nettes grew silent. Every one seemed to hold 
his breath. Why, you could have heard a fly 
walk! All the poor puppets trembled like 
leaves. 

“Why have you come here and made all 
this disturbance in my theater?” he asked 
looking straight at Pinocchio, and speaking 
with the voice of an ogre with a cold in his 
head. 

“Believe me, honored sir, it is not my 
fault,” quavered Pinocchio. 

“Don’t talk back to me! I’ll settle my ac¬ 
count with you later.” 

The marionettes went on with the comedy 
and the manager went to the kitchen, where 
he was cooking a sheep for his supper, turn¬ 
ing it slowly before the fire on a spit. As 
there was not enough fuel in the fire to finish 




62 


PI N O C C H I O 


roasting it, he called Harlequin and Punchi¬ 
nello and said, “Bring me that marionette 
you will find hanging on a nail out there. He 
seems to be made of good dry wood, and I 
am sure he will make a beautiful fire for the 
roast.” 



They Returned to the Kitchen Dragging Pinocchio 


Harlequin and Punchinello hesitated for an 
instant, but appalled by a glance from their 
master’s eye they obeyed. Shortly they re¬ 
turned to the kitchen, dragging Pinocchio, 
who was wriggling like an eel out of water, 
and who was crying despairingly, “Oh 
Father, dear Father, save me! I do not want 
to die! I do not want to die!” 







PINOCCHIO ACTS THE HERO 
The showman, Fire Eater (for that was 
his name) looked very dreadful, with his 
black beard covering his chest and legs like 
a great apron, but really he was not a bad 
man. When he heard Pinocchio crying, “I 
do not want to die! I do not want to die,” 
and saw his struggles, he began to be sorry 
for him. He tried to resist the feeling, but 
could stand it no longer, and at last he gave 
a terrible sneeze. At the sound Harlequin, 
who until then had been doubled up like a 
weeping willow with his grief, began to look 




64 


PINOCCHIO 


more cheerful, and leaning toward Pinocchio, 
whispered to him softly, “Good news, 
brother! Our master has sneezed. Take 
heart. That is a sign that he pities you, and 
now you will be saved.” 

For while many men and women cry when 
they feel moved to pity, Fire Eater had a 
habit of sneezing instead. It was his only 
way of letting others know the tenderness 
of his heart. After he had sneezed, the man¬ 
ager, still looking cross, shouted to Pinoc¬ 
chio, “Stop crying! Your tears give me a 
sick feeling, here in my stomach. I feel a 
spasm that nearly—etchi—etchi” and he 
sneezed twice more. 

“Bless you” said Pinocchio. 

“Thank you. Are your father and mother 
still living?” asked Fire Eater. 

“My father yes, but I have never known 
a mother.” 

“Oh, what a dreadful thing it would have 
been for your father if I had thrown you 
on the fire. Poor old man, I pity him.—etchi 
—etchi—etchi—” and he sneezed three times 


more. 


PINOCCHIO 


65 


“Bless you,” said Pinocchio. 

Thank you. But all the same some pity 
is due me too, because if I let you go, you see 
I shall have no wood to make the fire to 
finish cooking my mutton, and you would 
have made a fine fire. But now that I am 
going to spare you, I shall have to wait and 
look around a bit. I shall have to burn some 
one of my company instead. Ho, gendarme, 
come here.” 

At this command two wooden guards or 
policemen, who are called gendarmes in 
Italy, appeared immediately, with caps on 
their heads and swords by their sides. The 
showman said to them in a hoarse voice. 
“Bring in Harlequin, bound tightly, mind 
you, and throw him on the fire. I want that 
roast well done.” 

Imagine how poor Harlequin must have 
felt! He was so scared that his legs doubled 
under him, and he fell face downward on the 
floor. Pinocchio at this pitiful sight, threw 
himself at the feet of the manager, and cry¬ 
ing into the long black beard of Fire Eater, 
so that he dampened it with his tears, said 
pleadingly, “Have pity, Sir Fire Eater.” 




66 


PINOCCHIO 



“Don’t call me 
Mr. Cavalier,” he 
said less severely. 


“Don’t call me 
Sir,” roared Fire 
Eater. 


“Pity, Mr. 
Cavalier!” 


“Pity, Mr. 
Commander.” 


“Don’t call me 
Commander.” 


Pinocchio Threw Himself at the Feet of the 
Manager 


“Pity, pity, your Excellency.” 

On hearing himself called Excellency the 
manager began to smile, and became more 
human and tractable. He said to Pinocchio, 
almost pleasantly: 

“Well, well, what do you want?” 

“I ask you to spare poor Harlequin.” 

“Impossible. I have spared you, but I must 
put someone on the fire, for I am determined 
to have my meat well cooked.” 

“In that case” said Pinocchio proudly, 
straightening himself, and throwing aside his 
cap of bread crumbs, “In that case I know 
my duty. Come gendarmes, bind me and 




PINOCCHIO 


67 


throw me into the flames. It is not right that 
my friend Harlequin should die for me!” 

These words, pronounced in a loud and 
heroic tone made all the marionettes present, 
cry. Even the gendarmes, wooden though 
they were, cried like two little baby lambs. 
For a time Fire Eater remained hard and 
cold as ice, but slowly he began to melt, and 
to show signs of wanting to sneeze. After 
having sneezed four or five times he held out 
his arms to Pinocchio, saying, “You are a 
brave boy. Come here and give me a kiss.” 

Pinocchio ran and climbing like a squirrel 
up the beard of the manager, gave him a 
hearty kiss right on the point of his nose. 

“Then I am saved?” asked Harlequin, in a 
little thin voice that could hardly be heard. 

“Yes, you are saved” replied Fire Eater. 
Then he added, sighing, and shaking his 
head, “And tonight I must eat a half cooked 
supper. But another time, woe to anyone 
who changes my plans.” 

When the marionettes heard that Harle¬ 
quin was saved they ran to the stage, lit all 
the lights as for a special holiday perform¬ 
ance, and began to dance about merrily. 





PINOCCHIO MAKES SOME NEW ACQUAINTANCES 

The next morning Fire Eater called Pinoc- 
chio aside and said to him, “What is your 
father’s name?” 

“Geppetto.” 

“And what is his business?” 

“He is a woodcarver, but he is very poor, 
and must almost beg his bread.” 

“He doesn’t earn much then?” 

“He never has a cent in his pockets. Just 
think, in order to buy me an A B C book he 
had to sell his only coat. It was covered with 
patches, but they gave him enough so that 
he could buy me the book.” 


PINOCCHIO 


69 


“Poor man. I am sorry for him. Here are 
five gold pieces. Go at once and take them 
to him with my compliments.” 

Pinocchio, you may be certain, thanked 
the showman a thousand times. He hugged 
the marionettes one after another, and then, 
nearly wild with joy, started home. But he 
had not gone half a mile when he met a fox 
with a lame paw, and a cat blind in both 
eyes. The fox, who limped, leaned on the 
cat, and the blind cat was guided by the fox. 

“Good morning, Pinocchio,” said the fox 
accosting him politely. 

“How do you know my name?” asked the 
marionette. 

“I know your father very well.” 

“When did you see him last?” 

“I saw him yesterday at the door of his 
house.” 

“What was he doing?” 

“He was in his shirt sleeves and shivering 
with cold.” 

“Poor father! That’s over now. In the 
future he will not ever need to shiver.” 
“Why?” 

“Because I have become rich.” 




70 


PINOCCHIO 


“You rich!” said the fox and laughed 
rudely. The cat laughed too, but to conceal 
it she stroked her whiskers with her front 
paws. 

“What are you laughing at?” asked Pinoc- 
chio, taken aback. “I don’t like to make you 
envy me, but here as you can see, are five 
beautiful pieces of gold.” And from his 
pocket he pulled the money that Fire Eater 
had given him. At the sound of the gold 
clinking together the fox involuntarily 
stretched out his lame paw, and the cat 
opened wide both eyes like big green lamps, 
but all so quickly that Pinocchio saw nothing 
of it. 

“And now,” said the fox, “what do you 
intend to do with all that money?” 

“First of all,” replied the marionette, “I 
shall buy a coat for my father, all covered 
with gold and silver and diamond buttons on 
it. Then I shall buy a new ABC book for 
myself.” 

“For yourself?” 

“Yes indeed. I want to go to school and 
begin studying.” 




PINOCCHIO 


71 


“Look at me” said the fox, “because of my 
passion for studying, I have lost the use of 
my leg.” 

“Look at me” cried the cat, “Because of 
my love of study I have lost both my eyes.” 

Just at that moment a blackbird flew near 
them and sang shrilly. 

“Pinocchio, do not listen to the counsel of 
bad companions. If you do you will be 
sorry.” 

Poor blackbird. Hardly had be finished 
before the cat gave a spring and caught him, 
and without giving him time to say “Oh” she 
had eaten him up, feathers and all. Then she 
licked her whiskers, closed her eyes, and 
again pretended blindness. 

“Poor blackbird,” said Pinocchio, “Why 
did you treat him so badly?” 

“I did it to teach him a lesson. Another 
time he will know enough not to meddle in 
other people’s business.” 

They walked along together for a while, 
and then, stopping suddenly, the fox said to 
the marionette, “How would you like to 
double your money?” 

“What do you mean?” 





72 


PINOCCHIO 


“How would you like to turn those mis¬ 
erable five pieces into ten, into a hundred, 
into a thousand?” 

“Why of course, but how can it be done?” 

“Very easy. Instead of going home, come 
with us.” 

“And where do you want to take me?” 

“To the Country of the Owls.” 

Pinocchio reflected a moment, and then 
said firmly, “No, I will not go. My father is 
waiting for me. Poor man, perhaps when I 
did not return yesterday he may have wor¬ 
ried about me and cried for me. I have been 
a bad boy, and the Talking Cricket was right 
when he said ‘Disobedient boys never get 
along well in this world.’ I have had one 
dreadful experience because I was bad. 
Only last night at the house of the Fire 
Eater I was in the greatest danger. Brrr! 
It makes me tremble to think of it.” 

“You are quite decided upon going home 
then?” said the fox. “All right, of course if 
you want to, but it will certainly be the 
worse for you.” 

“Yes it will be the worse for you,” echoed 
the cat. 




PINOCCHIO 


73 


“Consider carefully, Pinocchio, for you are 
throwing away a fortune.” 

“A fortune,” repeated the cat. 

“Your five pieces might be two thousand 
by tomorrow.” 

“Two thousand,” repeated the cat. 

“But how could they possibly become so 
many?” asked Pinocchio, with mouth wide 
open in astonishment. 

“I will explain,” said the fox. “In the 
Country of the Owls there is a magic field 
called the Field of Wonders. There you make 
a little hole in the ground, and put in it a 
piece of money, for example, one of your 
gold pieces. Then you fill in the hole with 
a little earth, water it with a few drops from 
the fountain nearby, put two pinches of salt 
on it, and go away and go to bed and to a 
quiet night’s sleep. In the meantime, during 
the night, the gold piece begins to grow and 
blossom, and the next morning, when you 
return to the field, guess what you find? 
Why a big tree loaded with gold.” 

“If I bury five pieces,” said Pinocchio, all 
excited, “How many shall I find in the 
morning?” 




74 


PINOCCHIO 



Pinocchio, the Cat and the Fox 


“That’s easy to count,” replied the fox. 
“You can do it on your fingers. Every gold 
piece will make five hundred, and therefore 
multiplying each by five, you will have two 
thousand five hundred pieces of pure gold.” 

“Oh, how wonderful!” cried Pinocchio 
dancing with joy, “When I have all those 
gold pieces I will give you five hundred of 
them, and I will take the other two thousand 
to my father.” 

“A present to us!” cried the fox scorn¬ 
fully as if he were offended, “No indeed!” 

“No indeed!” said the cat. 

“We work only to enrich others,” said the 
fox. 







PINOCCHIO 


75 


“Only others,” repeated the cat. 

“What good people!” thought Pinocchio, 
and forgetting all about his father, the new 
coat and the ABC book, he said to the fox 
and the cat, “Come on, I am going with you. 
Let us get started at once.” 






AT THE RED LOBSTER INN 

They walked and walked and walked, until 
at last toward evening they arrived at the 
Red Lobster Inn, all tired out. 

“Let us stop here a while,” said the fox, 
“just long enough to get something to eat 
and rest a little. At midnight we can start 
again, and tomorrow morning we will arrive 
at the Field of Wonders.” 

They entered the inn and seated them¬ 
selves at a table, but none of them was 
hungry. The poor cat felt very much indis¬ 
posed, and could eat only thirty-five mullets 
with tomato sauce, and four helpings of tripe, 
and because the tripe did not taste just right 
to him, he called three times for butter and 
cheese to put on it. 











He Was Just About to Grasp It When He Was Awakened by a Knocking 

















































































































78 


PINOCCHIO 


The fox would willingly have ordered 
something, but as the doctor had told him 
to diet, he had to be contented with a nice 
fresh rabbit dressed with the giblets of 
chicken. After the rabbit, he ordered as a 
finish to his meal some partridges, pheasants, 
frogs, lizards, and some bird of paradise eggs, 
and then he did not want any more. He felt 
such a dislike for food that he said he could 
not eat another mouthful. 

Pinocchio ate the least of all. He asked for 
some walnuts and a chunk of dry bread, but 
he left it all on his plate. He could think of 
nothing but the Field of Wonders. When 
they had finished the fox said to the inn¬ 
keeper, “Give us two good rooms, one for 
Mr. Pinocchio, and another for me and my 
companion. .We will have a little sleep before 
we go. Remember, though, to wake us at 
midnight so we can go on with our journey.” 

“All right, sir,” replied the man, and he 
winked at the fox and the cat, as much as 
to say, “I know what you are up to. We un¬ 
derstand each other.” 

Pinocchio had scarcely jumped into bed 
when he fell asleep and began to dream. He 





They Were All Gold Pieces and Made a Tinkling Noise 
















80 


PINOCCHIO 


seemed to be in a big field filled with arbors, 
and each was overgrown with vines covered 
with large clusters of fruit. Instead of grapes, 
however, they were all gold pieces that made 
a tinkling noise when the wind blew—zin- 
zin-zin-zin. It seemed just as if they said, 
“Here we are. Let who will come and take us.” 

Just as Pinocchio was reaching out his 
hand to pick them he heard a loud knocking 
at the door of his room. It was the land¬ 
lord who came to tell him that the clock had 
struck midnight. 

“And are my companions ready?” asked 
the marionette. 

“Ready? Better than that. They left two 
hours ago.” 

“Why were they in such a hurry?” 

“The cat received word that her eldest 
kitten was sick from chilblains on the paws, 
and was in great danger.” 

“Did they pay for the supper?” 

“What kind of people do you think they 
are? They are too highly educated to insult 
such a gentleman as you.” 

“Oh yes. That affront would have dis¬ 
pleased me very much,” said Pinocchio 




PINOCCHIO 


81 


hastily. Then he added, “Did they say where 
I should meet them?” 

“At the Field of Wonders, tomorrow morn¬ 
ing at daybreak.” 

Pinocchio paid a gold piece for his supper 
and that of his companions and left the inn. 
He groped his way along, because outside 
the inn it was so dark that he could not see 
a hand’s length ahead of him. It was very 
quiet, and not even a leaf stirred, only some 
night birds flying across the road brushed 
Pinocchio’s nose with their wings. He 
jumped back and cried out in terror, “Who 
goes there?” and the echo in the surrounding 
hills took up his words, and repeated “Who 
goes there? Who goes there? Who goes 
there?” 

As he walked on, he saw on the trunk of 
a tree a little creature that shone with a pale 
opaque light just like a candle behind a globe 
of thin porcelain. 

“Who are you?” asked Pinocchio. 

“I am the spirit of the Talking Cricket,” 
it replied, in a voice so small and faint that 
it seemed to come from another world. 

“What do you want with me?” 




82 


PINOCCHIO 


“I want to warn you. Go back, and take 
the four gold pieces that you have left, to 
your father, who is in despair thinking he 
will never see you again.” 

‘‘Tomorrow my father will be a very rich 
man, because these four pieces will have be¬ 
come two thousand.” 

“Do not trust those whom promise to make 
you rich in a night, my boy. Usually such 
persons are mad or deceitful. Listen to me 
and go back.” 

“I want to go on.” 

“It’s very late.” 

“I want to go on.” 

“The night is dark.” 

“All the same I want to go on.” 

“The road is dangerous.” 

“Nevertheless I will go on.” 

“Remember that boys who always do what 
they want to, will sooner or later repent.” 

“The old, old story! Good night Cricket!” 

“Good night, and may you escape from the 
robbers.” 

The Talking Cricket had hardly said these 
words when suddenly he disappeared, just as 
if someone had blown out the light, and the 
road was darker than ever. 





PINOCCHIO PURSUED 

“Really,” said the marionette to himself 
as he resumed his journey, “how unfortunate 
we poor boys are. Everybody scolds us, 
everybody warns us, and everybody gives us 
advice. Why, everybody takes it upon him¬ 
self to be our father and master—even the 
Talking Cricket. Here I am, and because I 
would not pay any attention to that tiresome 
Talking" Cricket he said that many awful 
things would happen to me! I should meet 
robbers! I have never believed in robbers. I 
think that robbers have been invented by 
fathers on purpose to make their boys afraid 
to go out at night. And then, even if I did 
meet them on the road they would probably 
tell me my way. Why, I wouldn’t be afraid. 
I would go straight up to them, and say right 
to their faces, ‘Mr. Robbers, what do you 
want of me? Don’t think you can fool with 





84 


PINOCCHIO 


me. Go on about your own business, quick.’ 
At such talk the poor robbers,—I can just 
see them now—would run away like the 
wind. In case they were so foolish as not to 
run away, why then I would, anyhow, and 
thus the thing would end.” 

But Pinocchio did not finish his reasoning, 
for at that moment he thought he heard a 
rustling in the leaves behind him. He turned 
to look, and saw in the road behind him two 
evil looking black figures covered with coal 
sacks, and their faces masked by them, run¬ 
ning toward him on tiptoe like phantoms. 

“And here they are, actually” said Pinoc¬ 
chio to himself. Not knowing what to do 
with the four gold pieces he put them in his 
mouth under his tongue. Then he tried to 
run away. But he did not get a step. His 
arms were seized and he heard two hollow 
voices say, “Your money or your life.” 

Not being able to reply on account of the 
money in his mouth Pinocchio made many 
bows and gestures in order to make his cap- 
tors understand that he was only a poor 
marionette and did not have a cent in his 
pockets. 




PINOCCHIO 


85 


“Come on now, and stop your nonsense. 
Out with it!” the robbers cried threateningly, 
and at that the marionette made signs with 
his hands and head which meant “I have 
none.” 

“Hand over the money or you will die,” 
said the taller robber. 

“You will die,” repeated the smaller one. 

“And after you are dead we will kill your 
father.” 

“We will kill your father,” echoed the 
other. 

“No, No! Not my ^oor father!” cried 
Pinocchio despairingly, but in saying this the 
gold piece made a noise in his mouth. 

“Oh, you story-teller! You have hidden 
the money in your mouth. Out with it, quick 
now!” 

Poor Pinocchio remained silent. 

“Oh, so you pretend to be deaf, do you? 
Just you wait, and we will show you how we 
will make you give up the gold.” 

One of them seized him by the end of the 
nose, and the other caught his chin. At once 
they fell upon him and began to handle the 
marionette very roughly, but after a hard 


86 


PINOCCHIO 


battle Pinocchio managed to liberate himself 
from their hands, and after jumping a hedge 


that bordered the 
road be began to 
run across the 
fields with the rob¬ 
bers after him, like 
two dogs after a 
rabbit. After a run 
of fifteen miles 
Pinocchio felt that 
he could go no far¬ 
ther. Giving him¬ 
self up for lost he 
climbed to the top 
of a large pine tree 



Pinocchio at the Top of a Tree 


and perched himself on one of the highest 
branches. The robbers tried to climb up 
after him, but when they were halfway up 
the tree trunk they slipped down to the 
ground, rubbing the skin off their legs and 
arms as they fell. 

But they were not so easily beaten. They 
collected a quantity of dry sticks, piled them 
around the foot of the tree, and set fire to 
them. In less time than it takes to tell it, the 








PINOCCHIO 


87 


pine tree took fire and blazed like a candle 
blown by the wind. Pinocchio seeing the 
flames mounting higher and higher, and not 
wishing to be roasted to a cinder, made one 
great leap from the tree top, and away he 
ran, just as before, with the robbers always 
running close behind him, and never seeming 
to grow tired. Meanwhile the day dawned 
and the chase still went on. Pinocchio found 
himself on the edge of a wide ditch filled with 
muddy brown water, just the color of coffee 
with cream. What should he do? “One, two, 
three,” he said, and crouching, he made a 
great spring and landed safely on the other 
side. The robbers jumped too, but not hav¬ 
ing judged the distance properly, splash— 
both fell into the ditch. 

Pinocchio, who heard the plunge and the 
splash, cried out, “I hope you had a nice bath, 
Mister Robbers!” and then began to run 
again. He thought at first that his pursuers 
were drowned, but looking back he saw them 
running as before, the water streaming from 
their wet clothes as they followed him. 



PINOCCHIO CAUGHT 

At this the marionette’s courage failed 
him, and he was about to give himself up as 
lost, when looking about him he saw gleam¬ 
ing far, far away in the middle of a deep dark 
forest, a little house as white as snow. “If I 
have breath enough to reach that house, per¬ 
haps I shall be saved,” he thought, and with¬ 
out delaying a minute he began to run 
through the forest as fast as he could. The 
robbers still followed him. Finally after a 
desperate run of two hours, he arrived, out 
of breath, at the door of the house and 
knocked. There was no reply. He knocked 
again, harder than before, because he heard 
the approaching steps and heavy breathing 
of his pursuers, but still there was silence in 
the house. Seeing that knocking had no 
effect he began to kick and beat the door in 
desperation. At last there appeared at a 



















PINOCCHIO 


89 


window a beautiful Fairy with blue hair. 
When she saw Pinocchio she said in a small 
faint voice that seemed to come from another 
world, “There is no one in the house. They 
have all gone away.” 

“Then won’t you please open the door for 
me yourself,” sobbed Pinocchio. 

“I cannot. I too am going away,” and hav¬ 
ing said this she closed the window quietly 
and went away from his sight. 

“Oh beautiful Fairy with the blue hair,” 
cried Pinocchio. “Open the door for pity’s 
sake. Have mercy on a poor boy pursued by 
robb—” But he could not finish the word, 
because he was suddenly seized by the collar 
and heard the angry voices of his captors 
threatening him, and crying, 

“Now you shall not escape us again.” 

The marionette, seeing no escape from his 
wicked captors, trembled so that all his joints 
cracked, and the four gold pieces jingled in 
his mouth. 

“Now,” said the robbers, “Will you open 
your mouth? Yes or no? Oh, you do not 
reply? Very well, this time we will open it 




90 


PINOCCHIO 


for you.” And they flashed two knives, sharp 
as razors, and—zaff-zaff—they gave him two 
slashes in the middle of the back. Fortu¬ 
nately the marionette was made of good hard 
wood. The knife blades broke into several 
pieces, and the robbers stood staring at each 
other, with only the knife handles in their 
hands. 

“Well,” said one of them at last, “We shall 
have to choke him.” 

“Choke him,” said the other. So they tied 
his hands behind him, put a rope around his 
neck, and hung him to a branch of a tall 
tree called the Big Oak. Then they sat down 
on the grass and waited for the marionette to 
open his mouth for breath, hoping then to 
get the gold pieces. But after three hours he 
still held his mouth tightly closed and looked 
straight at them and kicked his feet defiantly. 
Losing patience at this long wait they finally 
rose to go, and said tauntingly, 

“Goodby until tomorrow morning. When 
we get back we shall expect to find your 
mouth open, and the gold will be ours.” And 
they went away. 




PINOCCHIO 


91 


A wild north wind had risen, and it swung 
the poor puppet back and forth like a bell 
and made him very dizzy. He felt that he 
could not endure his position another mo¬ 
ment, yet he kept hoping that someone would 
come to save him. But when after long wait¬ 
ing he began to realize that no one would 
come, he thought of his good Father, and 
thinking that never should he see him again, 
he sobbed out “Oh father, father, if only you 
were here now!” But he had no breath to 
say more; his senses seemed to leave him, 
and for a long time he knew nothing of what 
happened. 




PINOCCHIO RESCUED 

While poor Pinocchio swung from the 
branch of the Big Oak, more dead than alive, 
the beautiful Fairy with the Blue Hair came 
to the window once more. Pitying the poor 
puppet she clapped her hands three times, 
and at this signal there was a beating of 
wings and a great falcon came and lighted 
on the window sill. 

“What do you command, my gracious 
fairy?” asked the falcon, dipping his beak in 
respect. For the Fairy with the Blue Hair 
was none other than a beautiful enchantress, 
who for more than a thousand years had 
lived in the neighborhood of this forest. 

“Do you see that marionette hanging from 
a branch of the Big Oak?” 


PINOCCHIO 


93 


“I see him.” 

“Fly to him at once and with your strong 
beak untie the knot that holds him sus¬ 
pended, and lay him gently on the grass 
under the tree.” 

The falcon flew away and in two minutes 
returned, saying, “That which you have com¬ 
manded is done.” 

“How did you find him—alive or dead?” 

“He seemed to be dead, but really he can¬ 
not be, for scarcely had I untied the knot 
and laid him gently on the ground when he 
gave a sigh and said ‘Now I feel better’.” 

At that the fairy clapped her hands twice 
and a magnificent Bearded Dog appeared, 
walking on his hind legs as if he had been 
a man. He was dressed in livery. On his 
head he wore a three cornered hat trimmed 
with gold lace, and a curly white wig that 
hung down on his shoulders. He had a choc¬ 
olate colored dress coat with diamond but¬ 
tons, and two big pockets to hold bones, a 
pair of short crimson velvet breeches, and 
big shiny boots, and he carried behind him 
a sort of umbrella cover of blue satin, in 
which he put his tail when it rained. 




94 


PINOCCHIO 


“My brave Medoro,” said the Fairy to the 
Bearded Dog, “go and harness the most 
beautiful carriage in my stables and take the 
road to the forest. When you reach the Big 
Oak you will find a poor half dead marion¬ 
ette stretched out on the ground there. Take 
him up carefully and bring him here to me. 
Do you understand?” 

The Bearded Dog, to show that he did, 
shook the cover of his tail three times, and 
departed in a flash. A few minutes later a 
beautiful little carriage, all trimmed in 
canary bird feathers and lined with cream 
colored plush came from the stables. It was 
drawn by one hundred pairs of white mice, 
and the Bearded Dog sat on the coach box 
and cracked his whip from side to side as a 
coachman does when he fears he shall be 
late. 

A quarter of an hour had not passed when 
the carriage returned. The Fairy who was 
waiting at the door, took the poor marion¬ 
ette in her arms and carried him to a little 
bed of mother-of-pearl, prepared especially 
for him. Then she sent post haste for the 
three most famous doctors in the neighbor- 




PINOCCHIO 


95 


hood. They soon arrived, one after another, 
a Crow, an Owl, and a Talking Cricket. 

“I should like to have you tell me, gentle¬ 
men,” said the Fairy, turning to the three 
doctors who were assembled around the bed 
of Pinocchio, “whether this poor marionette 
is dead or alive.” 

At this question the Crow stepped for¬ 
ward and tested the patient’s pulse, tweaked 
his nose and pinched his toes. When he had 
thus examined him thoroughly he pro¬ 
nounced these words solemnly: “It is my 
belief that the puppet is quite dead, but if 
by chance he should not be dead then it 
would be a sure sign that he is alive.” 

“It pains me,” said the Owl, “to have to 
contradict the Crow, my illustrious friend 
and colleague. In my opinion, however, the 
marionette is still alive. But if through some 
chance or other he should not be alive, then 
it would be a sure sign that he is dead.” 

“And have you nothing to say?” said the 
Fairy to the Talking Cricket. 

“I say that a prudent doctor should be 
quiet when he does not know what to say. 
Besides, this marionette’s face is familiar to 





96 


PINOCCHIO 


me. Indeed I have known him for some 
time.” 

Pinocchio, who until then had been as mo¬ 
tionless as any piece of wood, began to 
tremble so violently that he shook the bed. 

“That marionette there,” continued the 
Talking Cricket, “is a good for nothing.” 

Pinocchio opened his eyes and then closed 
them immediately. 

“He is a scamp, a rogue, a vagabond, a do 
nothing, a ragamuffin.” 

Pinocchio hid his face under the covers. 

“That marionette is a disobedient child, 
who is breaking his poor father’s heart.” 

At this, smothered crying and sobbing 
were heard in the room. Imagine how sur¬ 
prised everybody was when the covers were 
pulled down and the crying and sobbing were 
found to come from Pinocchio! 

“When the dead cry,” said the Crow, “It 
is a sign that they are on the road to re¬ 
covery.” 

“It grieves me to contradict my illustrious 
friend and colleague,” added the Owl, “but 
to my mind, when the dead cry it is a sign 
they do not want to die.” 



THE LENGTHENING NOSE 

As soon as the three doctors left the room 
the Fairy approached and touching his fore¬ 
head, saw that he was in high fever, that 
must be cured at once. So she put a little 
bit of white powder in a glass of water, and 
handing it to the marionette said to him 
gently, “Drink, and in a little while you will 
be well.” 

Pinocchio looked at the glass, made a face, 
and said in a tearful voice: 

“Is it sweet or bitter?” 

“It is bitter, but it will do you good.” 

“If it is bitter I will not take it.” 

“Listen to me—drink it.” 

“I do not like bitter things.” 

“Drink it, and when you have taken it I 
will give you a lump of sugar to take the 
taste out of your mouth.” 


98 


PINOCCHIO 



“In a Little While You Will Be Well” 


“Where is the lump of sugar?” 

“Here it is” said the Fairy, taking a piece, 
from a golden bowl nearby. 

“First I want the lump of sugar, then I 
will drink the bitter water.” 

“You promise me?” 

“Yes, I promise.” 

The Fairy gave him the sugar, and Pinoc- 
chio crunched it to atoms, and smacked his 
lips. “How nice that was” he said, “If sugar 
could only be called medicine, I would take 
medicine all day long.” 

“All right, but now keep your promise and 
drink these few bitter drops. They will cure 
you.” 






PINOCCHIO 


99 


Pinocchio took the glass in his hand un¬ 
willingly, and put it under his nose, then he 
put it to his lips, then under his nose again. 
Finally he said, “It is too bitter! It is too 
bitter! I cannot drink it!” 

“How do you know that, when you have 
not tasted it?” 

“I know it. I can smell it. I want another 
lump of sugar first: then I will drink it.” 

So the Fairy with the patience of a loving 
mother, put another lump of sugar in his 
mouth and gave him the glass again. “I can¬ 
not drink it,” said the marionette making a 
thousand faces. 

“And why not?” 

“Because that pillow on my feet bothers 
me. 

The Fairy took the pillow away. 

“It is no use. I cannot drink it even now.” 

“Well, what is the matter now?” 

“That door is half open.” 

The Fairy closed the door. 

Pinocchio burst into tears. “I cannot drink 
that bitter water. No! No! No!” 

“My child, you will be sorry.” 

“No I won’t.” 




100 


PINOCCHIO 


“Your fever is very high.” 

“I don’t care.” 

“In a few hours it may kill you.” 

“I don’t care.” 

“Are you afraid of nothing?” 

“No. I would rather die than take that 
dreadful medicine.” 

At that moment the door of the room 
flew open and four rabbits, black as ink, 
entered, carrying a stretcher on their 
shoulders. 

“What do you want with me?” cried 
Pinocchio, sitting up in his bed in a great 
fright. 

“We have come to take you away.” 

“To take me away? But why?” 

“You have refused to drink the medicine 
that would cure you of your fever.” 

“Oh, my Fairy, oh my Fairy,” screamed 
the marionette. “Give me the glass at once. 
Send them away. I do not want to go away 
from you.” And seizing the glass in both 
hands he swallowed the medicine at one gulp. 

“Oh dear!” said the four black rabbits in 
chorus, “We have made this call for nothing.” 
And placing the stretcher on their shoulders 




PINOCCHIO 


101 


again, they left the room grumbling and mut¬ 
tering between their teeth. 

A few moments later Pinocchio jumped 
out of bed well and strong, for wooden mari¬ 
onettes have the advantage of being sick very 
seldom, and when they are they get well very 
quickly. The Fairy, seeing him run around 
the room as lively and bright as a little 
chicken just out of its shell, said to him, 
“Then my medicine has cured you?” 

“Yes indeed! It has restored me to life.” 

“Then why did you require so much per¬ 
suasion to take it?” 

“Boys always act like that. We are more 
afraid of the medicine than of the sickness.” 

“Shame on you! Boys ought to know that 
a good medicine taken in time may save them 
from a serious illness, and perhaps even from 
death.” 

“Oh, another time I will not behave so 
badly. I will remember the black rabbits, and 
then I will take the medicine at once.” 

“Now come here and tell me how it hap¬ 
pened that you fell into the hands of 
robbers?” 





102 


PINOCCHIO 


So Pinocchio told her the story of his ad¬ 
venture from the moment Fire Eater gave 
him the gold until he was rescued under the 
Big Oak. 

“And where have you put the four pieces 
of gold?” asked the Fairy when he had 
finished. 

“I have lost them,” replied Pinocchio. But 
he told a lie, for he had them in his pocket 
all the time. 

Scarcely had he said this than his nose, 
already long, grew two fingers’ length 
longer. 

“And where did you lose them?” 

“In the forest.” 

At this second lie his nose grew longer 
still. 

“If you have lost them in the forest we 
will hunt for them there and find them too, 
because everything that is lost in my forest 
is always found again.” 

“Oh now I remember,”.replied Pinocchio, 
confused at that, “I didn’t lose them, but I 
swallowed the four pieces of money when I 
took that medicine.” 




PINOCCHIO 


103 


At this third lie his nose grew so long that 
poor Pinocchio could not turn around in the 
room. If he turned to one side, it struck the 
bed or the window panes, and if he turned 
to the other, it struck the walls or the door. 
If he raised his head he ran the risk of stick¬ 
ing it into the Fairy’s eyes. 

Watching his embarrassment, the Fairy 
stood there and laughed at him. 

“Why do you laugh?’’ asked the mario¬ 
nette, very confused and anxious because his 
nose had grown so long. 

“I am laughing at the foolish lies you have 
told.” 

“How do you know I have told lies?” 

“Lies, my boy, are recognized immediately, 
because there are two kinds, those that have 
short legs, and those that have long noses. 
Yours, as it happens, is one of those with a 
long nose.” 

Pinocchio, not knowing where to hide him¬ 
self from shame, tried to get out of the room, 
but he could not. His nose had grown so 
large that he could not get through the door. 





OLD FRIENDS 

You may be certain the Fairy let the mari¬ 
onette cry and scream for a good half hour 
because he could not go through the door on 
account of the length of his nose. This she 
did because she wanted to teach him a lesson 
and show him how wicked he had been in 
telling lies. But when she saw how his poor 
eyes were swollen red from crying, she took 
pity on him, and clapped her hands together 
sharply. At the signal a thousand birds 
called Woodpeckers flew into the room, and 
perching on Pinocchio’s nose began to peck 
at it so furiously that in a few moments it 
was reduced to its usual size, whereupon the 
Fairy waved her hand, and all the birds flew 
away. 

“How good you are, my Fairy,” said the 


PINOCCHIO 


105 


marionette, drying his eyes, “And how I 
love you.” 

“I love you too,” replied the fairy, and if 
you want to stay with me, you shall be my 
little brother, and I will be your little sister.” 

“I would stay willingly—but there is my 
poor father.” 

“I have thought of everything. Your 
father has been told you are here, and before 
night he will be here with us.” 

“Really?” cried Pinocchio, jumping with 
joy. “Then, my dear Fairy, if you are will¬ 
ing, I should like to go and meet him. I can 
hardly wait to kiss that good Geppetto, who 
has suffered so much for me.” 

“Very well, you may go, but do not lose 
your way. Take the road to the forest, and I 
am sure you will meet him.” 

Pinocchio started and as soon as he 
reached the forest he began to run like a 
deer, but when he arrived at a certain point, 
almost in front of the Big Oak, he stopped 
because he thought he heard someone. Then 
he saw two persons appear on the road from 
among the bushes, and who do you suppose 
they were? None other than the fox and the 




106 


PINOCCHIO 


cat, the two companions with whom he had 
dined at the Red Lobster Inn. 

“Here is our dear friend Pinocchio!” cried 
the fox, hugging and kissing him. “How did 
you ever get here?” 

“How did you ever get here?” repeated 
the cat. 

“It is a long sad story” said the marionette, 
“and I will tell it to you when I have time. 
You know the night when you left me alone 
at the Inn I met some robbers on the road.” 

“Robbers? Oh, my poor friend. What did 
they want?” 

“They wanted to rob me of my money.” 

“Villains,” cried the fox. 

“Villains,” echoed the cat. 

“But I started to run” continued the mari¬ 
onette, “and they ran after me until they 
caught me and tied me up to a branch of 
that Big Oak there,” and Pinocchio pointed 
to the tree near which they stood. 

“It is hard to believe such a thing?” said 
the fox. “What a world we live in! And now 
what are you doing here?” 

“I am waiting for my father—I expect to 
meet him any minute now.” 







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The Woodpeckers Perched on Pinocchio's Nose 





















108 


PINOCCHIO 


“And your money, where is that?” 

“I have it all in my pocket, all but the piece 
I spent at the Red Lobster Inn.” 

“And to think that instead of four pieces 
they might become two thousand by tomor¬ 
row! Why didn’t you follow my advice? 
Why don’t you go and sow them in the Field 
of Wonders?” 

“I cannot go today. Perhaps I will go some 
other time.” 

“Another time will be too late,” said the 
fox. 

“Why?” 

“Because the field has been bought by a 
rich man and after tomorrow no one will be 
permitted to sow any more there.” 

“How far is it to the Field of Wonders 
from here?” 

“Hardly two miles. Will you come with 
us? In half an hour we shall be there. You 
can sow the money at once, and after a few 
moments you can return home with your 
pockets full. Will you come with us?” 

Pinocchio hesitated a little, because he 
thought of the good little Fairy, of old Gep- 
petto, and of the warnings of the Talking 


PINOCCHIO 


109 


Cricket, but after the way of foolish, heart¬ 
less boys, he yielded at last. With a toss of 
his head he said to the fox and the cat, 
“Come on, I will go with you.” And they 
started. After they had walked half a day 
they arrived at a town called “Trap-for- 
Blockheads.” As soon as they entered it 
Pinocchio saw that the streets were full of 
sick dogs crying with hunger; clipped sheep 
that trembled with cold; featherless chickens 
that begged for grain; big butterflies that 
could not fly any more because they had sold 
their beautiful wings for a few pennies, and 
were ashamed to be seen; and pheasants that 
drooped, mourning for their brilliant gold 
and silver feathers now lost to them forever; 
and peacocks without tails. Here and there 
in the crowd of beggars and unhappy 
creatures they passed several fine carriages, 
each containing a fox or a thieving magpie. 

“And where is the field of wonders?” asked 
Pinocchio. 

“Not two steps further.” They crossed the 
town and outside the walls they came to a 
field which to Pinocchio looked much like 
other fields. No one was in sight. 




110 


PINOCCHIO 


“Here we are at last,” said the fox. “Now 
you must stoop down and dig a hole, and 
then put your money in it.” 

Pinocchio obeyed, dug the hole, buried the 
money, and covered it over with earth. 

“And now,” said the fox, go to the well, 
get a little water and sprinkle the ground 
where you have sown.” 

Pinocchio went to the well, and as he had 
no bucket in which to carry the water, he 
took off his shoe, and filling it, came back and 
sprinkled his garden patch. “Now,” he asked, 
“is there anything 
else to be done?” 

“Nothing else,” 
replied the fox. 
“We will go away 
now. You can re¬ 
turn here in about 
twenty minutes, 
and you will find a 
large vine with its 
branches covered 
with money already 
pushing up from 
the earth.” 



Pinocchio Buried the Money 








PINOCCHIO 


111 


The poor marionette, beside himself with 
joy, thanked the fox and the cat a thousand 
times, and promised them beautiful presents. 

“We want nothing,” they replied, “For us 
it is enough to have taught others the way to 
get rich without working, and we are as con¬ 
tented and happy as if we had the money 
ourselves.” 

Thereupon they bowed to Pinocchio, and 
wishing him a good harvest, they hurried 
away. 






THE END OF A GOLDEN DREAM 

The marionette, returning to town, 
counted the minutes one by one. When he 
thought it was time to go back he took the 
road that led to the Field of Wonders, and 
as he walked along his heart beat like a big 
hall clock—tic-toc-tic-toc. “What if I should 
find five thousand instead of two!” he 
thought to himself. What if I should find a 
hundred thousand instead of five! Oh what 
a lord I should be then! I would have a 
palace and a thousand woPden horses and 
carriages to amuse me, a library filled with 
candy, tarts, plum cakes, almond cakes, 
macaroons and cinnamon sticks.” 


PINOCCHIO 


113 


While he was building these air castles he 
arrived at the field. He looked eagerly for 
the great vine with many branches full of 
money, but saw none. He took a few steps 
more. He saw nothing unusual. He entered 
the field and hurried to the hole where he 
had planted his money, but there was no 
bush there. Then he became thoughtful, for¬ 
got the rules of good society, scratched his 
head and wondered what to do next. 

Just then he heard a whistling above his 
head, as if someone were laughing at him. 
Looking up he saw perched on a tree nearby 
a big green parrot preening his few feathers. 

“What are you laughing at?” asked Pinoc- 
chio angrily. 

“Because I tickled myself under the wing 
when I was preening my feathers.” 

Pinocchio hardly noticed him. He went to 
the well, and again sprinkled the spot where 
he had buried his money. At this he heard 
a laungh lounder and more impertinent than 
the first, and it sounded very strange in the 
lonely field. 

“Well,” he said angrily, “tell me if you can, 
you ignorant Parrot, why you laugh now.” 





114 


PINOCCHIO 


“I laugh at those silly ones who believe 
everything that is told them.” 

“I suppose you are referring to me?” 

“Yes, I am, Pinocchio. You are foolish 
enough to think that money, sowed in the 
earth, will grow like grain and plants. I 
thought so once too, and so today I have 
very few feathers. Now it is too late to cor¬ 
rect matters. I have made up my mind that 
to earn and save a few pennies it is neces¬ 
sary to work with your hands or invent 
something with your head.” 

“I do not understand,” said the marionette, 
who already was trembling with fear. 

“I will explain,” said the Parrot. “While 
you were in town the Fox and the Cat re¬ 
turned here, took your money and fled like 
the wind. And now you will never catch 
them.” 

Pinocchio stood a moment with wide open 
mouth, then unwilling to believe the words 
of the Parrot he began to dig up the dirt 
with his hands, in the spot where he had 
buried his money. And he dug and dug and 
dug, until he had made a hole large enough 
for a haystack, but the gold was not there. 




PINOCCHIO 


115 


In desperation he rushed back to town. 
There he went before the Court of Justice 
and denounced the robbers who had stolen 
his money. The judge was a Monkey of the 
gorilla race. He was old and commanded 
respect on account of his white beard, and 
especially for his gold rimmed eyeglasses 
with no glass in them. These he wore all 
the time because of a weakness of the eyes, 
which had troubled him for many years. 

Pinocchio told the judge everything, gave 
the names and addresses of the robbers, and 
ended by asking for justice. The judge 
listened with great dignity. He took a lively 
interest in the story and seemed quite moved, 
and when the marionette had no more to say 
the judge stretched out his hand and rang a 
bell. At that summons two large mastiff 
dogs entered, dressed as gendarmes. Point¬ 
ing to Pinocchio he said to them: “This poor 
idiot has had his money stolen. Take him 
off to prison.” 

The marionette hearing his sentence, be¬ 
gan to protest, but the dogs, not caring to 
waste time, stopped his mouth, and led him 
off to a cell. And there he remained for four 


116 


PINOCCHIO 


long months, and would have been there 
much longer, if something fortunate had not 
happened. You see, little readers, the young 
ruler of the town called “Trap-for-block- 
heads” had just won a splendid victory over 
his enemies, and had ordered a grand festival, 
fireworks and all sorts of parades, and to 
celebrate his triumph further he ordered all 
the prisons opened, and the prisoners freed. 

“If the other prisoners go out, I must go 
too,” said Pinocchio to the guard. 

“You?” replied the man, “No, because you 
are not a criminal.” 

“Excuse me,” said Pinocchio, “But I am 
as bad as any of them.” 

“In that case you shall go,” said the guard, 
and raising his hat respectfully and saluting 
the marionette, he opened the door of his 
cell, and allowed him to escape. 






NOTHING BUT TROUBLE 

Just imagine how happy Pinocchio was 
when he found himself free once more! 
Without stopping a second he left the town 
and took the road that led to the house of 
the Fairy. The roads were all very soft 
because of recent rains, and at evey step he 
went in up to his knees in mud. But he did 
not let that stop him. Wild with longing to 
see again his dear father and his little sister 
with the blue hair, he leaped from one patch 
of dry ground to another, splashing mud all 
over his clothes as he went. 

“How unfortunate I have been!” he 
thought. “But I deserve it all, because I am 
such a headstrong and nervous puppet. I 
always want to have my way, without paying 
any attention to those who love me and are 
a thousand times wiser than I. But from 
now on I will change my life and become a 



118 


P I N O C C H I O 


good, obedient boy. I have found out that 
boys who are disobedient always lose in the 
long run. And my poor father has waited 
for me so long! Shall I find him at the 
Fairy’s house? It is so long since I have 
seen him that I will give him a thousand 
hugs and kisses. And will the Fairy forgive 
my naughtiness in going away? To think of 
all the kindness I have received from her! 
And to think too that I owe my life to her!” 
He stopped suddenly, frightened half to 
death and took four quick steps backward. 
What do you think he saw? There was an 
immense Serpent stretched out across the 
road. It had a green skin, fiery eyes, and a 
tail that smoked at the end just like a 
chimney. It is impossible to describe the 
terror of the marionette, who, retreating 
some distance, sat down on a heap of stones 
and waited for the Serpent to go away about 
its own business, so that the road would be 
left clear. He waited an hour, two hours, 
three hours, but the Serpent did not move, 
and even from a distance Pinocchio could see 
the fiery eyes and the smoking tail. At last, 
getting up his courage, the marionette 


PINOCCHIO 


119 


approached within a few feet of the Serpent 
and said in a soft and gentle voice, so as not 
to anger it: “Excuse me, Mr. Serpent, but 
would you oblige me by moving to one side 
so that I can pass?” 

He might as well have talked to a wall. 
There was no answer. Then he said in the 
same soft tone, “If you must know, Mr. 
Serpent, I am going home, where my father 
is waiting for me. Will you let me pass so 
that I can go on my way?” 

He waited for some sign of response, but 
there was none. On the contrary, the Ser¬ 
pent, which until then had been quite lively, 
grew suddenly quiet and rigid. His eyes 
closed and his tail stopped smoking. 

“I believe he is dead,” thought Pinocchio, 
rubbing his hands with satisfaction, and went 
forward intending to jump over him to pass 
to the other side. But hardly had he lifted a 
leg, when the Serpent rose suddenly, like a 
spring let loose. The marionette, trying to 
jump back, tripped and fell to the ground 
with such force that he landed with his head 
half stuck in the mud and his feet in the air. 
At the sight of the marionette kicking his 




120 


PINOCCHIO 



legs so violently 
the Serpent was 
seized with con¬ 
vulsions of laugh¬ 
ter. He laughed 
and laughed and 
laughed with such 
force, that he 
broke a vein and 
perished. And this 
time he really was 
dead. 

Pinocchio 
started on a run 
along the road, hoping to reach the house of 
the Fairy before dark. Before long, however, 
he began to be hungry, and he jumped into 
a field nearby to gather a bunch of grapes. 
And here again he was unlucky. For hardly 
had he reached the grape arbor when—crack 
—his legs were caught between two pieces 
of iron with a force that made him see sev¬ 
eral new stars in the heavens. The poor 
marionette was fast in a trap placed there by 
a farmer to catch a thieving weasel that was 
the scourge of his poultry yards. 


Pinocchio in the Trap 





PIN0CCH10 BECOMES A WATCHDOG 

Pinocchio, you may be certain, began to 
cry and scream, but all for nothing, for there 
was not a house near him, and no one passed 
along the road. At last night came. The trap 
was causing him so much pain, and he was so 
afraid of the dark that he nearly fainted with 
it all. Suddenly he saw a firefly, and called 
to it, “Oh, Firefly, won’t you please help me 
to get away from here?” 

“Poor boy!” replied the Firefly, stopping 
to look at him, “how ever did you get your 
legs caught in that trap?” 

“I came into the field to get a bunch of 
grapes, and—” 

“But are the grapes yours?” 

“No.” 



122 


PINOCCHIO 


“Then what made you steal another per¬ 
son’s things?’’ 

“I was hungry.” 

“Hunger, my boy, is never a good excuse 
for stealing something belonging to 
another.” 

“I know it! I know it!” wailed Pinocchio, 
“and another time I will not do it.” 

Just then the conversation was interrupted 
by the sound of footsteps that came nearer 
and nearer. The owner of the field had come 
to see if one of the weasels that were eating 
his chickens had been caught in the trap, 
and he was greatly surprised, when, taking 
out a dark lantern from under his coat, he 
saw instead of a weasel, a boy puppet. 

“Ha, you little thief!” cried the angry 
farmer, “So you are the one that has been 
carrying off my chickens!” 

“I? No,” cried Pinocchio, sobbing. “I 
came into the field for a bunch of grapes.” 

“He who steals grapes is quite capable of 
stealing chickens too. Just you wait. I will 
give you a lesson that you will remember 
for some time.” 




PINOCCHIO 


123 


He opened the trap, took up the marionette 
by the back of the neck, as a cat carries a 
kitten, and took him home. When he reached 
the door he said to Pinocchio, “It is late, and 
I want to go to bed. We will settle our 
account tomorrow. Meanwhile, as my watch 
dog died today, I will put you into his house. 
I will make you my watchdog.” 

No sooner had he said this than taking a 
great collar studded with nails he put it 
around Pinocchio’s neck, and snapped onto 
it a heavy chain that was fastened to the 
wall at the other end. 

“If it should rain tonight,” said the farmer, 
“there is some straw inside there that my 
dog has used for four years, and you may 
go in and rest on it. And if robbers should 
come into the yard, watch them closely and 
bark.” 

After this last warning the farmer entered 
his house and closed the door and the poor 
marionette was left lying in the barnyard 
more dead than alive from cold, hunger and 
fear. Now and then he put his hands 
between his neck and the heavy collar, 
because it hurt him, saying to himself: “It 





124 


PINOCCHIO 



Saying to Himself, “It Serves Me Right” 


serves me right. I was determined to run 
away. I listened to the advice of bad com¬ 
panions, and that is why I am so unhappy 
now. If I had been a good boy as so many 
boys are, if I had wanted to study and to 
work, if I had stayed at home with my 
father, I should not be here now, sleeping 
in a dog house, and watching a chicken coop, 
like a dog! Oh, if only I could begin all over 
again' But now it is too late.” 

And giving a great sigh, he entered the 
kennel and fell asleep. 











PINOCCHIO BECOMES A HERO 

He had been sleeping soundly about two 
hours when he was awakened at midnight by 
a whispering which sounded near him. 
“Pist! pist!” it said, and seemed to come 
from the barnyard. He put his nose out of 
the door in the dog kennel, and saw four 
little beasts that looked a little like cats. But 
they were not cats. They were weasels, bold 
animals that eat young chickens. One of 
them, leaving his companions, went to the 
kennel and said in a low voice, “Good eve¬ 
ning, Melampo.” 

“My name is not Melampo.” 

“Well then who are you?” 

“I am Pinocchio.” 

“What are you doing here?” 


126 


PINOCCHIO 


“I am playing watchdog.” 

“But where is Melampo? Where is the old 
watch dog that lived in this kennel?” 

“He died this morning, I am told.” 

“Died? Poor beast! He was such a good 
dog! But judging from your face I should 
say that you were a nice dog too.” 

“Excuse me, but I am not a dog.” 

“Not a dog? What are you then?” 

“I am a marionette.” 

“And you play watchdog?” 

“Yes, I do, but only for a punishment.” 

“Oh, well, never mind that. I want to 
propose to you the same agreement that we 
had with Melampo. Are you willing?” 

“That depends. What are the conditions?” 

“We will come here one night a week, as 
we have done in the past, to pay a visit to 
this chicken house, and we will carry away 
nine chickens, eight for ourselves and one for 
you, on condition—don’t forget that—that 
you pretend to be asleep and that you do not 
come out and bark, and so arouse the 
farmer.” 

“And Melampo did that?” asked Pinocchio. 




PINOCCHIO 


127 


Oh yes, and we got along very nicely. 
Now you just go quietly to sleep, and you 
may be sure that before we go we will leave 
a nice fat chicken for your breakfast 
tomorrow morning. Do we understand each 
other?” 

“Very well,” replied Pinocchio, but he 
shook his head in the dark as if he could 
have said, “We’ll talk more about this later.” 

When the four weasels felt that they were 
safe from harm they ran boldly toward the 
chicken coop which was very near the dog 
house, and having opened the wooden gate 
with their teeth and claws they filed in one 
by one. But hardly were they inside when 
they heard the gate close with a bang. 

Who had closed the door? It was Pinoc¬ 
chio, who, not satisfied with the latch that 
held the door shut, put a big stone there 
besides, and then began to bark and bark, 
just like a watchdog—bu! bu! bu! At the 
sound the farmer jumped out of bed, took 
his gun and ran to the window, calling, 

“What is the matter?” 

“The robbers are here,” Pinocchio an¬ 
swered. 




128 


PINOCCHIO 


“Where are they?” 

“In the chicken coop.” 

“I will come right down,” said the farmer, 
and the next moment there he was. After 
he had put the four weasels in a sack, he 
said to them in a tone of real satisfaction, 
“You then, were the ones that have been 
stealing my chickens! I ought to punish you, 
but you are beneath my notice. Besides I 
have a better plan. Instead I will take you 
to the innkeeper in town in the morning, and 
he will gladly take you as a present and 
serve you up as rabbits. You really do not 
deserve such an honor, but generous men 
do not mind taking a little trouble now and 
then.” 

Then approaching Pinocchio, he patted 
him kindly, and asked, “How did you ever 
catch these four robbers? And to think that 
Melampo, my good and faithful Melampo 
never could do it!” 

The marionette might have told all he 
knew about the disgraceful bargain between 
the dog and the weasels, but remembering 
that the dog was dead he said to himself: 
“Why should I accuse him now? He is dead 




PINOCCHIO 


129 


and the best thing to do is to leave his mem¬ 
ory in peace.” 

“Were you asleep when the weasels came 
into the yard?” asked the farmer. 

“Yes, I was,” replied Pinocchio, “but they 
woke me with their chatter, and then one 
of them came up to my kennel and told me 
that if I would not bark and wake you up 
they would give me a nice fat chicken for 
myself. What do you think of that? I am 
only a marionette, and have nearly all the 
faults any puppet could have, but I would 
never enter into a bargain with thieves.” 

“Brave boy!” said the farmer patting him 
on the shoulder, “Such fine sentiments do you 
honor, and as a proof of my gratitude I will 
set you free to return to your home.” 

And he took off the dog collar. 





A SORROW AND A FAR JOURNEY 

As soon as Pinocchio was relieved of the 
weight of the hard and humiliating collar he 
started to run across the fields, and never 
stopped once until he had reached the high¬ 
road that led to the house of the Fairy. 
There he turned and looked back on the 
forest where he had been so unlucky as to 
meet the cat and the fox, and there in the 
middle he saw the great oak to which they 
had tied him, but though he looked in every 
direction for the little white house where 
lived his dear Fairy with the Blue Hair, he 
could not find it at all. A feeling of sadness 
and fear came over him and he ran as fast 
as his legs would take him. In a few minutes 
he reached the field where the little white 







PINOCCHIO 


131 


house had stood, but the white house was 
there no more. Instead there was only a 
white marble slab, on which was carved an 
inscription. 

It said: 

HERE LIES 

THE FAIRY WITH THE BLUE HAIR 
WHO DIED OF SORROW 
BECAUSE SHE WAS FORSAKEN BY 
HER LITTLE BROTHER PINOCCHIO 

As Pinocchio could not read he did not at 
first realize what had happened, but the 
Talking Cricket hovered near as if waiting 
for his return, and read it for him. You may 
imagine how the marionette felt when at 
last he understood the meaning of those 
words. He fell to the ground, and covering 
the marble slab with- kisses, cried as if his 
heart would break. He cried all night and 
all the next morning, until he had no more 
tears left, and all the hills around about 
repeated his loud cries. 

“Oh, my little Fairy, why did you die?” 
he sobbed. “Why am I not dead instead of 
you? Oh my dear little Fairy, tell me where 




132 


PINOCCHIO 


I can find my father. I want to be with him, 
and never leave him any more. Oh tell me 
it is not true that you are dead. If you really 
love me, if you love your little brother, come 
back, return to life! Doesn’t it make you 
unhappy to see me left all alone by every¬ 
body? If the robbers came now to hang me 
to a tree again, I should die this time for 
sure. What can I do alone in this world, 
now that I have lost my father and you? 
Who will give me anything to eat? Where 
shall I sleep at night? Who will make my 
clothes? Oh, it would be better a hundred 
times better, that I should die. Yes, I want 
to die. Ih! Ih! Ih!” 

And in despair he tried to tear out his 
hair, but as it was made of wood he could 
not even run his fingers through it, nor pull 
out a single lock. Just then a large dove that 
was flying past, seeing the little marionette 
leaning on the marble slab, stopped, and 
hovering in the air, asked: “Tell me little 
boy, what are you doing down there?” 

“Don’t you see that I am crying?” said 
Pinocchio, raising his head toward the voice, 




PINOCCHIO 


133 


and drying his eyes with the sleeve of his 
jacket. 

“Tell me,” the Dove went on, “do you 
know among your companions a marionette 
who is called Pinocchio?” 

“Pinocchio? Did you say Pinocchio?” cried 
the puppet, jumping to his feet, “I am 
Pinocchio.” 

When the Dove heard this he flew down 
to the ground, and at close range Pinocchio 
saw that he was as large as a turkey cock. 

“Do you know Geppetto too?” asked the 
Dove. 

“Do I know him? He is my poor father. 
Has he asked you about me? Can you take 
me to him? Is he alive? Tell me, is he alive?” 

“I left him three days ago on the sea¬ 
shore.” 

“What was he doing?” 

“He was making a little boat for himself 
in order to cross the ocean. For four months 
the poor man has been searching everywhere 
for you, and not succeeding, he has decided 
to build a boat and search in far distant 
lands.” 





134 


PINOCCHIO 


“How far is it to the shore?” asked Pinoc- 
chio. 

“A thousand miles.” 

“A thousand miles! Oh Dove! Oh, if only 
I had a pair of wings.” 

“If you want to go, I will carry you there.” 

“How?” 

“Astride my back. Are you heavy?” 

“No indeed. I am as light as a feather.” 

And without further words Pinocchio 
jumped on the Dove’s back, and put a leg 
over each side just like a man on horseback. 
Then he cried to the Dove: “All ready, go! 
Gallop, my little horse!” 

The Dove spread his wings and in a few 
moments they had soared so high they 
almost touched the clouds. Finding himself 
at such a height the marionette had the curi¬ 
osity to turn around and look down, but his 
head spun around so fast as he viewed the 
country far below that he had to put his arms 
around the Dove’s neck and hold tight or he 
would have fallen. They flew all day long. 
Toward evening the Dove said “I am very 
thirsty.” 

“And I am very hungry,” added Pinocchio. 











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They Soared So High They Almost Touched the Clouds 

















136 


PINOCCHIO 


“Let us stop at this dove house a few 
minutes, and then we will start on our way 
again, so as to be at the shore tomorrow 
morning.” 

They entered a deserted dovecote where 
they found a little basin of water and a small 
basket of chick peas placed near the door. 
Never in all his life had the marionette been 
able to eat chick peas. Merely hearing the 
name nearly always made him sick. But that 
night he ate them ravenously, and when he 
had almost finished he turned to the Dove 
and said: 

“I would never have believed that chick 
peas could taste so good.” 

“You will find out Pinocchio,” replied the 
Dove, “that when you are really hungry even 
the chick pea seems delicious. Hunger has 
no whims or fancies.” 

Having eaten their lunch they resumed 
their journey, and the next morning they 
reached the seashore. The Dove placed 
Pinocchio on the ground, and not wanting 
to be troubled with thanks for his good 
action, flew quickly away and disappeared. 




PINOCCHIO 


137 


The shore was crowded with people crying 
and pointing out to sea. 

“What has happened?’’ asked Pinocchio of 
an old woman. 

“There is an old man out there, who, hav¬ 
ing lost his little boy, ventured to go to sea 
today in a little boat in search for him, and 
the sea is so rough we are afraid he will 
sink.” 

“Where is the little boat?” 

“There it is—follow my finger,” she said, 
pointing to a little boat that from where they 
stood looked like a walnut shell with a tiny 
doll in it. 

Pinocchio, fixed his eyes on it, and sud¬ 
denly gave a piercing scream: 

“It is my father! It is my father!” 

Meanwhile, the little boat, tossed around 
by the waves, now disappeared between the 
billows, now came to the surface. Pinocchio, 
standing on the top of a high reef, kept call¬ 
ing his father by name and making every 
kind of signal with his hands, his arms, his 
handkerchief and his cap. And although 
Geppetto was so very far away from the 
shore he seemed to recognize his boy, for 




138 


PINOCCHIO 


he too took off his cap, and tried to make it 
clear that he would come to shore if it were 
not made impossible by the heavy seas. 

All of a sudden there came a terrible wave, 
and the boat disappeared. The watchers on 
shore waited to see it rise, but it was seen 
no more. 

“Poor man!” said the fishermen, but they 
could not help him, so they turned away, 
murmuring their sympathy. Then they 
heard a wild cry. Looking back they saw a 
little boy on top of a reef throw himself into 
the water, crying as he jumped; “I want to 
save my father!” 

Pinocchio, being made of wood floated 
easily, and he could swim like a fish. Now 
he was seen to disappear under the water, 
carried down by the fury of the waves; now 
he appeared again, striking out against 
them. The fishermen watched him until he 
was so far from shore that they could no 
longer see him. 

“Poor boy!” they said, and then, as they 
could do nothing for him, they went home. 





Buoyed up by the hope of arriving in time 
to save his father Pinocchio swam all night. 
And what a horrible night that was! The 
rain came down in torrents, the hail rattled 
on him, thunder crashed, and flashes of 
lightning made it bright as day. Toward 
morning he saw land not far off. It was an 
island in the middle of the sea. He tried to 
reach the sandy shore, but the attempt was 
in vain. The waves tossed him about like a 
straw. At last, as fortune would have it, 
there came a tremendous wave that hurled 
him far up the shore with such force that he 
nearly broke his bones, but he said bravely: 


“I was lucky to escape at all.” 













140 


PINOCCHIO 


Little by little the weather cleared. The 
sun appeared in all its splendor, and the sea 
grew as smooth as oil. The marionette 
spread his clothes out on the sand to dry, 
and sat down in the sun. He peered all 
around, but could see nothing of the little 
boat with a little man in it. 

“I wish I knew the name of this island,” 
he said to himself. “Anyhow I wish I knew 
if it is inhabited by kind people who do not 
hang boys to trees. But there’s no one here 
to tell me about it.” 

The idea of finding himself all alone on an 
island in the sea made him very sad, and he 
began to cry. Suddenly, not very far from 
shore, he saw passing by a large fish going 
quietly about his affairs, with his head above 
the water. The marionette called in a loud 
voice to be sure of being heard: 

“Hello, Mr. Fish! Will you allow me one 
word with you?” 

“Two if you like,” replied the Fish, which 
was a dolphin, and so polite that it would 
be hard to find his equal in the sea. 

“Will you please tell me if in this island 


PINOCCHIO 


141 


I can find something to eat without running 
the risk of being eaten myself?” 

“I am sure of it,” replied the Dolphin. 
“You will find some good people not far from 
here.” 

“And what road shall I take?” 

"That little path to the left and follow 
your nose. You cannot miss it.” 

“Tell me please another thing. You travel 
about in the sea a great deal by day and by 
night and perhaps you have seen a little boat 
with my father in it?” 

“And who is your father?” 

“He is the best in the world, and I am 
the worst son that can possibly be.” 

“No, I haven’t seen him, but with the ter¬ 
rible storm we had last night the boat must 
have sunk.” 

“And my father?” 

“By this time he must have been swal¬ 
lowed by the dogfish who has been playing 
havoc in these waters for several days now.” 

“Is the dogfish very big?” asked Pinocchio, 
beginning to tremble with fear. 

“Big?” replied the Dolphin, “Well you can 
get some idea of him when I tell you that he 




142 


PINOCCHIO 


is as big as a five story house, and his mouth 
is so wide he can swallow a train of cars and 
the engine at one gulp.” 

“Oh, oh me!” cried the marionette in ter¬ 
ror, and putting on his clothes in frantic 
haste he started down the path, calling over 
his shoulder to the Dolphin, “Goodby, Mr. 
Fish. Excuse my haste and I thank you a 
thousand times for your kindness.” 

Once on the road Pinocchio ran as quickly 
as he could. At every little noise he heard 
he looked back for fear he might be followed 
by the terrible dogfish as big as a five story 
house, and with a mouth wide enough to take 
in a train of cars and the engine. After hav¬ 
ing run for half an hour he arrived at a 
little village called “The Town of the Busy 
Bees.” The streets were filled with people 
running here and there attending to their 
business; everybody had something to do; 
you could not find an idler. 

“I see this country is not for me,” ex¬ 
claimed that good-for-nothing Pinocchio, “I 
was not born to work.” 

But in the meantime he was hungry be¬ 
cause he had eaten nothing for twenty-four 




PINOCCHIO 


143 


hours—not even a chick pea. What should 
he do? There were only two ways to get 
food, either to beg or to work for it. He was 
ashamed to beg, because his father had told 
him that the only ones who had a right to 
beg were the poor, the sick or the blind. The 
poor are often so because old age and sick¬ 
ness make them no longer able to work with 
their hands, and they deserve help. But 
everyone else must work, and if they will not, 
so much the worse for them. 

While he was considering his situation a 
man came along the road, panting and per¬ 
spiring as he dragged two carts filled with 
charcoal. Pinocchio, judging from his face 
that he was a kind man, lowered his eyes in 
embarrassment, and said in a low voice: 

“Will you please give me a penny? I am 
starving.” 

“Indeed I’ll do better, replied the man, “I 
will give you five if you will help me pull 
this wagon up the hill.” 

“I am surprised,” replied the marionette in 
an offended tone, “I am not a donkey. I have 
never pulled a wagon in my life. 




144 


PINOCCHIO 


“Well that’s your loss,” said the man, “and 
let me tell you, my boy, if you really are 
hungry, eat a couple of slices of your pride, 
and take care that it does not give you indi¬ 
gestion.” And he went on. 

After a few moments a bricklayer passed 
along, carrying a basket of lime on his 
shoulder. 

“Please sir, will you be kind enough to 
give a penny to a poor boy who is fainting 
with hunger?” 

“Come with me and I will give you five 
if you will carry this basket of lime for me.” 

“But the lime is heavy,” objected Pinoc- 
chio, “and I do not want to tire myself.” 

“If you do not want to get tired, my boy, 
go hungry. Goodby.” 

In less than half an hour twenty other 
people passed by and Pinocchio begged help 
from them all, and each one said to him; 
“Shame on you! Go find a little work and 
earn some money, instead of standing there 
and begging like a vagabond.” 

Finally along came a little woman carry¬ 
ing two pitchers of water. 





He Had to Put It On His Head 





























146 


PINOCCHIO 


“Will you please give me a sip of water?” 
asked the puppet, who was burning with 
thirst. 

“Certainly, my boy,” said the good woman, 
setting the two pitchers down on the ground. 
Pinocchio drank like a sponge, then mut¬ 
tered, as he dried his mouth. “I have 
quenched my thirst, now if I could only 
satisfy my hunger.” 

The good woman, hearing this, replied 
quickly, “If you will help me carry one of 
these pitchers up the hill, I will give you a 
nice piece of bread.” 

Pinocchio looked at the pitchers and an¬ 
swered neither yes nor no. 

“And with the bread I will give you a 
piece of cauliflower dipped in oil and 
vinegar.” 

Pinocchio gave another glance at the 
pitchers and said neither yes nor no. 

“And after the cauliflower I will give you 
a piece of cake.” 

At this Pinocchio could resist no longer. 
He said, “Oh, very well. I will carry the 
pitcher home for you.” It was very heavy, 
and not being able to carry it in his hands he 




PINOCCHIO 


147 


had to put it on his head. When they arrived 
at the house the good little woman made 
Pinocchio sit down at a little table, and gave 
him all that she had promised. Pinocchio did 
not eat. He gorged. He was so hungry that 
one would think he had not eaten for a week. 

At last when his hunger was somewhat 
satisfied, he raised his head to thank his 
benefactress. Hardly had he looked at her 
when he uttered a long “Oh-h-h-h!” of sur¬ 
prise, and stared as if bewitched, with his 
eyes opened wide, his fork in the air, and 
his mouth full of bread and cauliflower. 

“What is the matter?” the good woman 
asked laughing, “Why do you seem so sur¬ 
prised?” 

“What!” replied Pinocchio stuttering in 
his excitement, “What!—how you resemble 
—yes! yes! yes!—with the blue hair too, just 
like her! Oh, my little Fairy, tell me that it 
is you! Do not let me cry any more! Oh, if 
you only knew how much I have cried—how 
much I have suffered!” 

And at this he burst into a flood of tears 
and throwing himself on the floor at her feet, 
clung to the knees of the mysterious lady. 





PINOCCHIO IS GIVEN A PROMISE 

At first the good little woman pretended 
that she was not the Fairy with the Blue 
Hair, but afterward, seeing that she was 
found out, and not wishing to prolong the 
comedy, she admitted that he was right and 
said to Pinocchio: 

“You little rascal! How did you ever dis¬ 
cover that it was I?” 

“Because I love you so much. That is 
what told me.” 

“You remember me? I have grown much 
older since you left me. I am old enough 
now to be your mother.” 

“And I should like to call you that. I 
should like to have a mother like the other 
boys. But how did you grow up so quickly?” 


PINOCCHIO 


149 


“It is a secret.” 

“Teach me how to do it. I should like to 
grow too, don’t you see? I am always the 
same height, no bigger than a ninepin.” 

“But you cannot grow.” 

“Why?” 

“Because puppets never grow. They are 
born puppets, live puppets, and die puppets.” 

“Oh, I am sick and tired of always being a 
.puppet,” cried Pinocchio, striking his own 
head, “I want to become a man.” 

“Then you shall become one if you deserve 
it.” 

“Really? And what can I do to deserve 
it?” 

“That is easy. By learning to be a good 
boy.” 

“But I am one now.” 

“Indeed not! Good boys are obedient, and 
you”— 

“And I never obey.” 

“Good boys like to study and work and 
you”— 

“I like to play and run around, and am 
always idle.” 

“Good boys always tell the truth”— 




150 


PINOCCHIO 


“And I always tell lies.” 

“Good boys go to school willingly”— 

“And to me school is a dreadful thing. 
But from today I will change my life.” 

“You promise me?” 

“I promise you. I want to become a good 
little boy and a comfort to my father. Poor 
father! Where is he now?” 

“I do not know.” 

“Shall I ever have the happiness of seeing 
him again?” 

“I believe so. Indeed, I am certain you 
will.” 

At this Pinocchio was so happy that he 
danced with joy. Then raising his head and 
looking lovingly at the Fairy he said, “Tell 
me, little mother, is it true that you are 
alive?” 

“Of course I am,” the Fairy answered. 

“If you only knew the sorrow I felt when 
I thought you were buried under that stone.” 

“I do know it, and that is why I forgive 
you. The sincerity of your sorrow proves 
that you have a good heart. There is always 
hope for boys with good hearts. Even if 
they sometimes act like scamps there is 




PINOCCHIO 


151 


always hope that some time they will turn 
to the right road. That is why I have come 
here. I will be your mother.” 

“Oh, good!” cried Pinocchio, jumping with 
joy. 

“But you must obey me and always do as 
I tell you.” 

“Willingly, willingly, willingly!” 

“Then tomorrow,” said the Fairy, “you 
will begin by going to school.” 

Pinocchio became suddenly a little less 
joyful. 

“After that you must choose a trade or 
some business, just as you wish.” 

Pinocchio became serious. 

“What are you mumbling through your 
teeth,” asked the Fairy severely. 

“I was saying that now it seems a little 
late for me to go to school,” said Pinocchio 
in a low voice. 

“No sir. Remember that it is never too 
late to learn.” 

“But I do not want to learn a trade.” 

“Why?” 

“Because it makes me tired to work.” 

“My boy, those who say that always end 




152 


PINOCCHIO 



either in prison or 
else in the poor- 
house. Everyman, 
whether rich or 
poor, ought to 
work at some¬ 
thing, Woe to the 
one who lives in 
idleness! Idleness 
is a very bad dis¬ 
ease, and should 
be cured quickly 
“i wm Be Good ” in childhood, or 

else when you are old you will never get 
over it.” 


These words touched the heart of Pinoc- 
chio, and raising his head quickly he said to 
the Fairy, “I will study, I will work. I will 
do all that you ask, because I am tired of 
being a marionette, and I want to become a 
real boy. You promised me that I would, 
didn’t you?” 

“I did promise you, and now it depends 
entirely upon yourself.” 








SCHOOL AT LAST 

The very next day Pinocchio went to the 
public school. Just imagine how the little 
scholars behaved when they saw a puppet 
walk into the room. They set up a roar of 
laughter. They played jokes on him. One 
took his cap, another pulled his coat, another 
tried to paint an inky mustach on his face, 
and another tied strings to his arms and legs 
and tried to make him dance. For a little 
while Pinocchio pretended not to notice 
them, but finally, losing all patience, he said, 
“Take care! I have not come here to be your 
clown! I respect the rights of others and I 
want mine to be respected.” 

“Hurrah for the clown! He talks like a 
book,” shouted the little scamps bursting 
into laughter, and one of them, more im- 


Pinocchio at School 


pertinent than the others, stretched out his 
arm and tried to seize Pinocchio by the nose. 
But he did not have a chance, for the puppet 
suddenly thrust his leg out from under his 
desk and kicked his tormentor. 

“Oh, what hard feet he has!” cried the boy, 
rubbing the bruise that the marionette had 
made. “And what hard elbows!” said an¬ 
other, who for another attempted trick had 
received a poke in the ribs. The fact is that 
after a few punches and elbowings, Pinoc¬ 
chio won the respect of all the boys in the 
room, and they began to like him very much 
too. Even the schoolmaster praised him be¬ 
cause he was so attentive, studious and in- 









PINOCCHIO 


155 


telligent, always the first to enter the school, 
always the last to leave when it was over. 
He made only one mistake. He had too many 
friends, among whom were a few who did 
not care to study and were well known for 
their dislikes of school. The schoolmaster 
warned him daily against them, and the good 
Fairy too added her words of advice, saying: 
“Take care, Pinocchio! Those bad com¬ 
panions of yours will sooner or later make 
you lose your love of study, and perhaps will 
bring disaster upon you!” 

“There is no danger of that,” said the 
marionette, shrugging his shoulders, and 
touching his forehead with his first finger as 
if to say, “There is much wisdom here. I 
know too much for that.” 

Now it happened that one beautiful day as 
he was going to school, he met several of 
these companions, who said as he came up 
to them: 

“Have you heard the news?” 

“No, what news?” 

“Not far from here a big dogfish as large as 
a mountain has floated up on the beach.” 




156 


PINOCCHIO 


“Really? Why it may be the same one that 
swallowed my father.” 

“We are going over to look at it. Will you 
come along.” 

“No. I am going to school.” 

“What do you care for school? We can 
go there tomorrow. One lesson more or less 
will not matter at all.” 

“And what will the schoolmaster say?” 

“Oh he will have something more to talk 
about tomorrow. He is paid to grumble.” 

“And my mother?” 

“Your mother will never know,” said the 
wicked boys. 

“I have a better plan” said Pinocchio, “I 
want to see the dogfish very much, so I will 
go after school.” 

“Poor stupid thing!” they jeered, “Do you 
think that a dogfish that size will wait for 
your convenience? Why as soon as he is tired 
of it here, he will go away, and then you will 
be sorry you did not go.” 

“How long will it take to go there?” asked 
the marionette. 

“We can be there and back in half an hour.” 




PINOCCHIO 


157 



Pinocchio Was Always First in a Race 


“All right. I will go. Come on! The first 
one there is the best!” he cried. At that they 
all began to run. Pinocchio was always first 
in a race. He ran as if he had wings on his 
feet. From time to time he turned to peer at 
his companions who were some distance be¬ 
hind, and seeing them puffing and blowing 
and covered with dust, he laughed out loud. 
Poor boy. He did not know the disaster that 
was in store for him. 









IN TROUBLE AGAIN 

Arriving at the shore Pinocchio looked up 
and down the coast, but there was no dog¬ 
fish. The sea was as still and shiny as a look¬ 
ing-glass. “Where is the dogfish?” he asked 
turning to his companions. 

“It must have gone to breakfast,” answered 
one of them laughing. 

“Or maybe it is lying down on its bed for 
a nap,” said another, laughing still louder. 
From these silly replies Pinocchio knew that 
the boys had played a trick on him, making 
him believe a story that was not true. He 
turned on them angrily and said, “And now 
why did you tell me all this nonsense about 
the dogfish?” 

“Because we wanted to,” they shouted in 
chorus. 




PINOCCHIO 


159 


“But why?” 

“Because we wanted you to lose a day at 
school. Aren’t you ashamed to go to school 
every day so steadily? And then you are too 
studious. Why do you do it?” 

“If I am studious what business is that of 
yours?” 

“Why, it means a great deal to us, because 
it makes us look like bad boys in the eyes of 
the schoolmaster.” 

“Why?” 

“Because the boys who study are always 
compared with those of us who do not, and 
we do not look well by comparison. That’s 
all.” 

“And what should I do to satisfy you?” 

“You must hate school, lessons, and school¬ 
master, the three greatest enemies we boys 
have.” 

“And if I want study, what will you 
do?” 

“We will wait our chance, and at the first 
opportunity we will pay you up.” 

“You make me laugh,” said the marionette 
tossing his head. 




160 


PINOCCHIO 


“Take care, Pinocchio!” said the largest 
boy going up to him and shaking his fist under 
his nose. “Don’t make fun of us. None of 
your fine airs here, even if you are not afraid 
of us. Remember you are one against seven, 
and we are not afraid of you either.” 

“Now, Pinocchio, I am going to teach you 
a lesson” cried another, and struck the puppet 
with his fist. But it was an exchange of blows, 
for the lively marionette ducked his head and 
replied suddenly with another blow, and then 
the fight became general. Pinocchio, al¬ 
though he was alone, defended himself like a 
hero. His hard wooden feet worked so well 
that they kept all the boys at a reasonable 
distance. Where the feet struck they always 
left black and blue spots. Then the boys, pro¬ 
voked at not being able to get near the 
marionette looked around for stones to throw, 
but there was nothing but sand. Finally they 
took their spelling books, geographies, his¬ 
tories and arithmetics and began hurling 
them at him. But Pinocchio was very quick 
and dodged every one so that the books flew 
over him, and fell into the sea, splash! 




PINOCCHIO 


161 


And what do you think the fishes did? 
Thinking that the books might be something 
to eat they swam to the edge of the sea in 
shoals, and looked at the pictures and the 
print, but after swallowing several pages 
they spat them out and made wry faces as if 
to say: “This is no food for us. We are ac¬ 
customed to something better.” 

Meanwhile the battle grew fiercer, until a 
huge old crab came out of the water, and 
crawling slowly up the beach, cried in the 
voice of a trombone that has caught a cold: 
“Stop it! stop it! These battles among boys 
always end badly. Some disaster is sure 
to happen.” Poor crab! He might as well 
have spoken to the wind. That naughty 
Pinocchio, turning around, said to him very 
rudely: “Hold your tongue, you ugly old 
crab! You would do better to eat some 
stewed seaweed and cure that cold of yours. 
Go home to bed and take a nap!” 

In the meantime the boys, who had used 
up all their own books, looked around, and 
spying Pinocchio’s they seized them in less 
time than it takes to tell. Among his school 
books was a volume bound in thick card- 




162 


PINOCCHIO 


board. It was a treatise on arithmetic, and 
you can imagine how very heavy it must 
have been. One of the boys seized this book, 
and taking aim, threw it at Pinocchio’s head. 
But instead of hitting the marionette it 
struck one of his companions in the temple. 
The boy became as white as a sheet, and 
fell to the ground, where he lay motionless. 

Thinking he was dead the frightened boys 
ran away as fast as they could, and in a 
few minutes there was no one left on the 
shore but Pinocchio. Although he was half 
dead with grief and fright, nevertheless he 
ran and soaked his handkerchief in the sea, 
and began to bathe the temples of his poor 
schoolmate, crying despairingly, “Eugene! 
My poor Eugene! Open your eyes and look 
at me! Why don’t you answer me? It was 
not I who hurt you. Believe me it was not 
I. If you keep your eyes shut I will die too. 
How can I ever go home now? What can 
I say to my good mother? What will she 
say to me? Where can I go? Where can I 
hide myself? Oh, how much better, a thou¬ 
sand times better, would it have been if I 
had gone to school! Why did I listen to 





Pinocchio Is Arrested 






























164 


PINOCCHIO 


them this morning? And to think that the 
schoolmaster and my mother warned me to 
beware of bad companions. But I am head¬ 
strong. I am a bad obstinate boy. I let them 
tell me what to do, and then I do as I please. 
Why was I ever made? I have never had a 
quiet day in my life. Oh dear! What will 
become of me? What will become of me?” 

And Pinocchio continued to cry and sob, 
to punch his head, and to call poor Eugene 
by name. Suddenly he heard the sound of 
footsteps. He turned and there were two 
gendarmes. 

“What are you doing here?” they asked. 

“I am helping my schoolmate.” 

“Is he hurt?” 

“He seems to be.” 

“Hurt indeed!” said one of them, bending 
down and looking at Eugene closely, “The 
boy has been severely wounded in the 
temple. Who did it?” 

“It was not I,” stammered the marionette 
breathlessly. 

“If you did not do it, then who did?” 

“Not I,” repeated Pinocchio. 

“What struck him?” 




PINOCCHIO 


165 


“This book” and the marionette picked up 
the treatise on arithmetic, bound in thick 
cardboard, and handed it to the gendarme. 

“Whose book is this?” 

“It is mine.” 

That is enough. You must have done it. 
Get up and come with us immediately.” 

“But I—” 

“Come along with us.” 

“But I am innocent.” 

“Come along with us.” 

Before they left, the gendarmes called 
some fishermen who were passing in a row¬ 
boat near the shore, and said to them: “We 
leave this wounded boy to you. Take him 
to your house and take care of him. To¬ 
morrow we will come back and see how 
he is.” 

Then they turned to Pinocchio, and 
placing him between them, said in a com¬ 
manding tone: “Forward! March! If you 
do not obey, so much the worse for you.” 

Without a word the marionette set out 
along the road that led to the village, but 
the poor little wretch hardly knew where 
he was. It seemed to him that he was dream- 




166 


PINOCCHIO 


ing, and what a horrible dream it was! He 
was almost distracted. His eyes saw double. 
His legs trembled. His tongue stuck to the 
roof of his mouth and he could not say a 
word. And yet in his dazed condition he 
felt a pang in his heart at the thought of 
passing under the window of the good Fairy 
guarded as he was by gendarmes. He would 
rather have died. 

They had almost reached the village and 
were just entering it, when a gust of wind 
blew Pinocchio’s cap off his head and car¬ 
ried it along the road over which they had 
just come. 

“Will you allow me to get my hat?” he 
asked of his guards. 

“Yes, but be quick about it.” 

The puppet ran after his cap, but he did 
not put it on his head. He caught it between 
his teeth, and then began to run toward the 
sea as fast as he could go, speeding like a 
cannon ball. The gendarmes, seeing that it 
would be difficult to catch him, sent on his 
trail a bloodhound that had won all the first 
prizes at all the dog shows. Pinocchio ran, 
and the dog flew after him. The people hear- 




PINOCCHIO 


167 


ing the noise, ran to their front doors and 
windows, to see who would win the race. But 
the dog and Pinocchio raised such a dust as 
they ran that in a few moments nothing 
could be seen of either. 






THE STRANGE FISHERMAN 

In that desperate race that followed there 
was a terrible moment in which Pinocchio 
believed himself lost, for Alidoro ran so fast 
that he nearly caught up with the puppet, 
who could hear the heavy panting of the 
ugly beast, and could even feel the dog’s 
warm breath. But as good fortune would 
have it, the beach was near, and he saw the 
the sea but a few yards away. As soon as 
he reached the water’s edge the marionette 
gave a great leap like a frog and plunged 
into the surf. Alidoro tried to stop, but 



PINOCCHIO 


169 


carried away by the impetus of his speed he 
too rushed into the water. The wretched 
dog did not know how to swim, but he began 
to make frantic gestures with his paws in 
order to save himself, but the more he 
struggled the deeper his head went under 
the water. When at last he rose to the sur¬ 
face again for a moment his eyes were full of 
tears and he barked piteously, “Save me! I 
am drowning.” 

“Drown!” shouted Pinocchio from a dis¬ 
tance, seeing that he was out of danger now. 

“Help me, Pinocchio! Save me!” 

At that pitiful cry the marionette, who 
really had a kind heart, was moved with 
compassion, and starting toward the dog he 
said, “But if I save you, will you promise 
that you will not run after me or bother me 
any more?” 

“I promise, but be quick, or I shall drown 
in a moment more.” 

Pinocchio hesitated a second longer. Then 
remembering that his father had told him a 
good action is never forgotten he swam 
toward Alidoro, and taking him by the tail, 
pulled him out and landed him safe and 




170 


PINOCCHIO 


sound on the sand. The poor dog could not 
stand on his feet. He had been forced to 
swallow so much salt water that he was 
puffed up like a balloon. But not trusting 
him entirely the marionette thought it best 
to jump into the sea again and as he swam 
away he cried: “Goodby, Alidoro, remember 
me to your friends the gendarmes!” 

“Goodby, Pinocchio,” barked the dog. “A 
thousand thanks for having saved my life. 
You have done me a great service, and I 
shall never forget you. I hope I shall be 
able to repay you some day.” 

Pinocchio swam on, keeping always near 
the shore, until finally he thought he had 
reached a safe place to land. Looking along 
the shore he saw among the reefs a sort of 
cave from which rose a cloud of smoke. 

“In that cave,” he said to himself “there 
must be a fire. So much the better. I will 
go and dry myself. Then we will see what 
happens next.” 

Having made this decision he started 
toward the cave, but just as he was about to 
land he felt something in the water entangle 
him and draw him along. He tried to escape, 


PINOCCHIO 


171 


but it was too late, and he found himself in 
a great net filled with fishes of every kind, 
flapping and struggling. At the same time 
he saw coming from the cave a fisherman 
so ugly that he seemed to be some kind of 
sea monster. Instead of hair his head was 
covered with a thick mat of green seaweed; 
his skin was green; his eyes were green and 
his long beard too. He looked like a big lizard 
standing on its hind legs. When the strange 
fisherman had pulled in the net he gave a 
great cry of satisfaction: “Thank fortune! 
Today I shall have a splendid feast of fish.” 

“It is a good thing I am not a fish,” Pinoc- 
chio said to himself, regaining his courage. 

The monster carried the net into the cave, 
which was dark and smoky. In the center 
was a fire, and over it sizzled a frying pan 
full of oil. 

“Now let us see what kind of fish I have 
caught today” said the green fisherman, and 
reaching out a hand as big as a shovel he 
drew out a number of mullets. 

“These are beautiful mullets,” he said 
looking at them with satisfaction and after 
examining them carefully he threw them 




172 


PINOCCHIO 


into a washtub. He repeated this operation 
many times, filling many tubs with other 
fish, his mouth watering all the time so that 
he could hardly wait until the fish were 
cooked. 

“What good whitefish! What exquisite 
bass! What delicious soles! What choice 
crabs! What dear little anchovies!” 

The last to be taken from the net was 
Pinocchio. As the fisherman drew him out 
he opened his big green eyes in amazement, 
and exclaimed: “What kind of a fish is this? 
I don’t remember ever seeing one like it 
before!” and he looked him all over again 
and then said, “Oh, I know! He must be a 
crawfish.” 

Mortified at being called a crawfish Pinoc¬ 
chio cried out indignantly; “I am not a 
crawfish! Look at me. I am a marionette.” 

“A marionette!” repeated the fisherman, 
“Well, well! A marionette is a new kind of 
fish to me. All the better. I shall eat you 
with greater relish.” 

“Eat me? But you do not understand! I 
am not a fish. Don’t you see that I reason 
and talk as you do?” 



The Last to Be Taken from the Net I Was Pinocchio 









174 


PINOCCHIO 


“That is true,” replied the fisherman, “But 
as I see that you live in the water, and so 
must be a fish, and as you know how to 
reason and talk, I will let you choose the 
way you will be cooked. Should you like to 
be boiled, or fried, or stewed in a pan with 
tomato sauce?” 

“To tell the truth,” answered Pinocchio, 
“If I can choose, I should prefer to be set 
free and go home.” 

“You are joking. Do you think I would 
lose the chance of eating so rare a fish? 
Leave it to me. I will fry you with the 
others. Being fried with companions is 
always a consolation.” 

At this the unhappy Pinocchio began to 
cry—and exclaimed, “How much better 
would it have been if I had gone to school! 
I listened to the bad advice of my school 
friends, and now I am paying for it. Ih! 
Ih! Ih!” 

And he twisted and turned and wriggled 
like an eel, so that the fisherman took a piece 
of cord and bound his feet together as if he 
had been a chicken in a market, and threw 
him in with the others. Then he brought 




PINOCCHIO 


175 


out a box of flour, and having buttered the 
fish all over, dipped them into flour and 
tossed them into the frying pan. The first 
to be put in were the mullets, then the 
whitefish, then the soles, then the bass, then 
the crabs, then the anchovies, and finally it 
came Pinocchio’s turn. The marionette, see¬ 
ing himself so near his end, and such a hor¬ 
rible one too, trembled with fright, and had 
not breath left to say a word. The poor boy 
looked sadly at the fisherman, but the green 
monster, not caring in the least, buttered 
him from head to foot and dipped him five 
times in the flour, so that he looked like a 
plaster puppet. Then he took him by the 
neck and— 




THE PRODIGAL RETURNS 

Just as the fisherman was on the point of 
throwing Pinocchio into the frying pan a 
big dog entered the cave, attracted by the 
savory odor of the fried fish. “Go away!” 
shouted the fisherman threateningly, wav¬ 
ing the marionette all covered with flour. 
But the poor dog, who was as hungry as a 
wolf whined and wagged his tail as if to 
say, “Give me a mouthful of fish and I will 
leave you in peace.” 

“Go away!” repeated the fisherman raising 
his foot to kick him. Then the dog, too 
hungry to be trifled with, showed his terrible 
teeth. At that moment there was heard in 
the cave a feeble little voice crying, “Save 
me, Alidoro! If you do not I shall be fried.” 



PINOCCHIO 


177 


The dog recognized the voice of Pinocchio, 
and to his surprise found that it came from 
the floury bundle that the fisherman held in 
his hand. So what did he do but make a 
great leap, catch the white bundle, and 
holding it gently between his teeth run out 
of the cave like a shot. The fisherman, 
furious at losing his rare fish, tried to catch 
him, but found it impossible and had to con¬ 
tent himself with those that were left. In 
the meantime, Alidoro, reaching the road 
that led back to the village, stopped and 
carefully placed Pinocchio on the ground. 

“How can I thank you?” cried the marion¬ 
ette. 

“It is not necessary,” said the dog. “You 
have saved me, and now I have saved you. 
In this world, you know, we must all help 
one another.” 

“But how did you find the cave?” 

“After you left me I was lying on the 
shore exhausted, when the wind brought me 
the odor of fried fish. That gave me an 
appetite, and I followed up the delicious 
smell. If I had been a minute later—” 




178 


PINOCCHIO 


“Don’t speak of it!” cried Pinocchio, still 
trembling with fear, “Don’t speak of it! If 
you had arrived a minute later, by this time 
I should have been fried, eaten, and digested. 
Brrrr! It makes me shudder just to think 
of it!” 

Alidoro, laughing, held out his paw to 
Pinocchio, and after shaking hands like two 
good friends they separated, the dog going 
home, and Pinocchio walking on to a little 
cottage not far away. There he found an 
old man who was sitting in the doorway 
basking in the sun, and asked: “Tell me, do 
you know anything about a little boy called 
Eugene, who was hurt near here?” 

“The boy was taken into town by some 
fishermen, and he is now—” 

“Not dead?” interrupted Pinocchio, in 
great grief. 

“No indeed. He is alive and has gone 
home.” 

“Not really?” cried the marionette danc¬ 
ing with joy. “Then the wound was not 
serious?” 

“No, but it might easily have been fatal, 




179 


PINOCCHIO 


for he was struck in the head with a heavy 
book.” 

“And who threw it.” 

“One of his schoolmates, a certain Pinoc- 
chio.” 

“Who is this Pinocchio?” 

' They say that he is a bad boy, a vaga¬ 
bond, and a regular good-for-nothing.” 

“That is not true.” 

“Do you know him then?” 

“By sight,” replied the puppet. 

“What do you think of him?” 

“He appears to me to be a good boy, 
anxious to go to school and study, and 
obedient and affectionate to his parents.” 

When the marionette told this story he 
touched his nose and found that it had 
grown much larger. Frightened by this he 
cried, “Good man, do not believe all that I 
have said. I know this Pinocchio very well, 
and I assure you that he is really a very bad 
boy, a vagabond and a scoundrel, and instead 
of going to school he runs off with bad 
companions.” Hardly had he finished speak¬ 
ing when his nose returned to its natural 


size. 






180 


PINOCCHIO 


“And why are you covered with white?” 
asked the old man suddenly. 

“I will tell you, if you must know, but it 
is a long story and I am in a hurry,” replied 
the puppet who was ashamed to tell the real 
reason for his appearance. “Perhaps you 
could lend me some clothes to wear home.” 

“Well, my boy, you cannot go like that. 
I have only a little sack to offer but you are 
very welcome to it.” 

Without further ado Pinocchio made a 
little bundle of his own clothing, cut a hole 
in the bottom of the little sack and one at 
each side, and put it over his head like a 
shirt. With this light clothing he set off 
along the road home, saying to himself as 
he walked along, “How shall I present myself 
to my good Fairy? What will she say when 
she sees me? Will she forgive me a second 
time? On, no, she will not pardon me I am 
sure, because I have been a scamp and have 
not kept my promise.” 

When he reached town it was night, and 
very dark. Rain was falling in torrents and 
he went directly to the house of the Fairy, 
resolved to knock at the door. But when he 




PINOCCHIO 


181 


reached it his courage failed, and instead 
of knocking he ran on past for a few yards. 
He returned a second time to the door, but 
could not knock. Then he approached it a 
third time, and dared not rap. The fourth 
time he took hold of the knocker, and 
trembling as he did so, let it fall with only 
a gentle knock. He waited and waited. At 
last after a half hour a window opened on 
the top floor—there were four stories to the 
house—and Pinocchio saw a large Snail with 
a lighted candle balanced on the top of her 
head. She called to him: “Who is there at 
this hour?” 

“Is the Fairy at Home?” he asked. 

“The Fairy is sleeping and must not be 
awakened. But who are you?” 

“It is I.” 

“Who is I?” 

“Pinocchio.” 

“Who is Pinocchio?” 

“The marionette who lives here with the 
Fairy.” 

“Oh, I see,” said the Snail. “Wait there, 
and I will come down immediately.” 

“Hurry please, for I am perishing of cold.” 




182 


PINOCCHIO 


“My boy, I am a Snail, and snails never 
hurry.” 

An hour passed, then two, and the door 
was not opened. Pinocchio, who was wet 
through and trembling with the cold knocked 
again, louder this time. At the second knock 
a window on the third floor opened, and the 
Snail looked out. 

“Beautiful Snail,” cried Pinocchio from 
the street, “I have waited two hours, and 
two hours in this weather seems like two 
years. Please hurry, won’t you?” 

“My boy,” answered the Snail, calmly, “I 
am a Snail, and snails never hurry,” and the 
window was shut down again. 

Some time afterward it struck midnight, 
then one, then two, but still the door 
remained closed. Then Pinocchio, losing 
patience, seized the knocker in a rage, 
intending to strike with all his might, but 
the iron knocker suddenly became an eel, 
and slipping through his fingers, disappeared 
into a stream of water that ran down the 
middle of the road. 

“Very well!” cried Pinocchio, more 
enraged than ever, “if the knocker disappears 





He Tried to Pull It Out, but He Could Not 














































































































































































































































































































184 


PINOCCHIO 


I will use my foot,” and drawing back his 
foot he kicked the door so hard that his 
foot went through the wooden panel and 
stuck there. He tried to pull it out, but he 
could not. Just imagine how he felt! He 
was obliged to wait with one foot on the 
ground and the other in the door for the rest 
of the night. In the morning the door was 
opened. The good Snail had taken only nine 
hours in descending the stairs, and as might 
have been expected, was wet with perspira¬ 
tion from her exertions. 

“What are you doing with your foot in 
the door?” she asked laughing. 

“It was an accident. Kind Snail, do try 
and help me.” 

“My boy, you need a carpenter, and I have 
never learned that trade.” 

“Ask the Fairy to help me.” 

“The Fairy is asleep and cannot be dis¬ 
turbed.” 

“But what can I do all day with my foot 
fastened to the door?” 

“Amuse yourself by counting the ants 
that pass by.” 




PINOCCHIO 


185 


“Then bring me something to eat, won’t 
you? I am very hungry.” 

“Immediately,” said the Snail. 

And after three hours Pinocchio saw her 
coming with a silver tray on her head. The 
tray contained some bread, a piece of chicken 
and four ripe apricots. 

“Here is your breakfast, sent to you by 
the Fairy,” she said. 

At sight of such good food Pinocchio was 
consoled for his sufferings. But his eyes had 
deceived him, for when he took the bread he 
found that it was plaster, the chicken was 
made of cardboard, and the four apricots 
were only painted china. He wanted to cry, 
he wanted to scream, and in his despair he 
tried to throw away the silver tray, but he 
was so weak that he fainted from exhaus¬ 
tion. When he came to he found himself on 
a sofa, and his good Fairy was beside him. 

“Yes, I will forgive you this time, but woe 
to you if you ever do it again,” she said. 
Pinocchio promised that in the future he 
would be as good as gold, and he kept his 
promise all the rest of the year. Indeed at 
the examinations he took the highest honors 





186 


PINOCCHIO 


in the school, and the Fairy was so pleased 
that she said to him, “Tomorrow you shall 
have your wish.” 

“What—do you really mean—” 

“Tomorrow you shall stop being a marion¬ 
ette and become a real boy.” 

One who never saw Pinocchio cannot 
imagine how happy he was at this announce¬ 
ment. All his friends and schoolmates were 
to be invited to a wonderful party at the 
Fairy’s house the next day to celebrate the 
event, and for the occasion the Fairy had 
prepared two hundred cups of coffee and 
cream, and four hundred little sandwiches 
buttered inside and out. That day promised 
to be a great event in the life of Pinocchio, 
but— 

Unfortunately in the life of a marionette 
there is always a BUT that spoils every¬ 
thing. 





OFF FOR A NEW COUNTRY 

Pinocchio asked the Fairy’s permission to 
go round the town and invite his friends to 
the party, and she said “Go if you like, but 
remember to come back before dark. Do you 
understand?’’ 

“I promise to be back in an hour,” he 
replied. 

“Take care, Pinocchio! Boys are always 
ready to make promises, but they do not 
always keep them so readily.” 

‘I am not like other boys. And I certainly 
shall keep this promise.” 

“We shall see. If you disobey it will be 
the worse for you.” 

“Why?” 


188 


PINOCCHIO 


“Because boys who do not pay attention 
to the advice of their parents always meet 
with disaster.” 

“I have had that experience,” said Pinoc- 
chio, “but I shall never make that mistake 
again.” 

“We shall see if you are telling the truth.” 

In a little more than an hour all but one 
of his friends were invited. Some accepted 
at once; others hesitated until they heard of 
the coffee and cream and the sandwiches 
buttered on both sides, and then they said, 
“Indeed we will come.” 

Now, among his companions was one that 
he liked best of all. His name was Romeo, 
but he was nicknamed Candlewick, because 
he was so thin and straight and pale, like 
the new wick on a candle that has never 
been burned. Candlewick was the laziest and 
most wilful boy in all the school, but Pinoc- 
chio was devoted to him, and now he hunted 
everywhere for him to invite him to the 
party, but he looked in vain. Where could 
he be? He hunted here and there and every¬ 
where and finally found him under the porch 
of a farm house. 




PINOCCHIO 


189 


“What are you doing here?” asked 
Pinocchio. 

“I am waiting for midnight so that I can 
start.” 

“Why, where are you going?” 

“Far, far away.” 

“I have looked for you everywhere.” 

“What do you want with me?” 

“Haven’t you heard the news?” 

“What is it?” 

“Tomorrow I shall no longer be a mario¬ 
nette. I shall become a boy like you and 
the rest.” 

“Good luck to you!” 

“But I want you to come to the party.” 

“I have told you that I am going away 
tonight.” 

“When?” 

“Shortly.” 

“Where are you going?” 

“I am going to live in a new country— 
the most beautiful place in the world. It is 
a real paradise.” 

“What is it called?” 

“They call it the Country of Nothing-But- 
Play.” Won’t you come too?” 




190 


PINOCCHIO 


“I? No, indeed.” 

‘‘You are wrong, Pinocchio. Believe me, 
if you don’t come you will be sorry. Where 
could you find a better place for boys? 
There are no schools; there are no teachers; 
there are no school books. In that delightful 
country they never study. On Saturdays you 
have no school here, and there every day is 
Saturday except one, and that is Sunday. 
Just think, the vacation begins the first day 
of January and ends the last day of Decem¬ 
ber! That is the country for me. That is 
what I think all civilized countries should 
be like.” 

“But how do you pass the days in the 
Country of Nothing-But-Play?” 

“Why, you play from morning till night. 
At night you go to bed, and next morning 
it is the same thing all over again. How 
would you like that?” 

“Uhm!” said Pinocchio and he nodded his 
head as if to say “That country would please 
me very well.” 

“Then you will go with me? Yes or no?” 

“No, no, no! I have promised my kind 
Fairy to become a good boy and I mean to 


PINOCCHIO 


191 


keep my word. The sun is going down and 
I must hurry. Goodby and a pleasant 
journey.” 

“Don’t rush away so soon? What is your 
hurry?” 

“I told the good Fairy I would be home 
before dark.” 

“Wait two minutes.” 

“No—I will be late.” 

“Only two minutes.” 

“The Fairy will scold me.” 

“Let her scold. When she is tired of 
scolding she will stop,” said the little rascal, 
Candlewick. 

“And what are you going to do? Are you 
going alone or with friends?” 

“Alone? Why, there will be a hundred 
boys!” 

“Are you going on foot?” 

“Oh no! A coach will soon come to take 
me there.” 

“How I would like to see the coach pass 
by now!” 

“Why?” 

“I should like to see you all start.” 





192 


PINOCCHIO 


“If you will wait here a little while you 
will see us.” 

“No no! I must go home.” 

“Oh, wait another two minutes.” 

“No, I have waited too long now. The 
Fairy will worry about me.” 

“Poor Fairy! Does she think you will be 
eaten by bats?” 

“Tell me,” urged Pinocchio, “are you sure 
that there are no schools in that country?” 

“Not even the shadow of one.” 

“And no school masters?” 

“Not one.” 

“And no one is ever made to study?” 

“Never, never, never!” 

“What a beautiful country,” said Pinocchio 
enviously, “I have never been there but I 
can imagine all about it.” 

“Why don’t you come along?” 

“It is useless to tempt me. I have promised 
to be a good boy, and I mean to keep my 
word.” 

“Well then, goodby! Remember me to all 
the scholars.” 

“Goodby, Candlewick. A pleasant journey 
to you, and I hope you will meet some nice 


PINOCCHIO 


193 


new friends, but do not forget us.” 

Having said this the marionette took two 
steps toward home, then he stopped and 
asked, “But are you sure there are six Sat¬ 
urdays and only one Sunday in every week?” 

“I am positive.” 

“What a beautiful country! And do you 
know for certain that vacation begins on the 
first of January and ends the last day of 
December?” 

“I am positive.” 

“What a beautiful country!” Pinocchio 
repeated, enchanted. Then he made another 
start and said, “Well, goodby for sure this 
time, and I wish you a safe journey.” 

“Goodby.” 

“How soon do you start?” 

“Very soon now.” 

“Oh well, if it’s only a few moments 
now, I think I will wait and see you go.” 

“And the Fairy?” 

“I am late now anyhow, and an hour more 
will not make much difference.” 

“Poor Pinocchio! And what if the Fairy 
should scold?” 




194 


PINOCCHIO 


“Well let her scold. When she is tired of 
scolding she will stop.” 

In the meantime it had become quite dark. 
Suddenly as they talked they saw moving 
along the road in the distance, a faint little 
light, and heard the tooting of little trumpets 
so fine and small that they sounded like the 
buzzing of a mosquito. 

“Here they are!” shouted Candlewick 
jumping up. 

“What is it?” asked Pinocchio in a low 
voice. 

“It is the coach coming for me? Now will 
you go? Yes or no?” 

“But are you sure,” asked the marionette, 
“that in that country the boys are never 
obliged to study?” 

“Never, never, never!” 

“What a delightful country it must be!” 





THE TALKING DONKEY 

At last the coach arrived, and without 
making the least noise, for the wheels were 
wound with tow and rags. It was drawn by 
twelve pairs of little donkeys all of the same 
size but of different colors. Some were gray, 
some were brown, others were speckled like 
pepper and salt, and others were striped 
with bands of yellow and blue. But the most 
singular thing about them was that these 
twenty-four donkeys, instead of having shoes 
made of iron, wore on their feet white kid 
boots made like a man’s. 


196 


PINOCCHIO 


And the coachman? Picture to yourself 
a man very fat and round, like a big ball of 
butter, with an oily smile, a face like an 
apple, and a thin caressing voice like that 
of a cat trying to win her way into the good 
graces of her mistress. As soon as they saw 
him, all the boys were tempted to jump into 
his coach and start away for that place— 
never found on the ordinary geography class 
maps—the Country of Nothing-But-Play. 

Now, the coach was filled with boys be¬ 
tween eight and ten years of age, packed in 
like herrings in a barrel. They were huddled 
together so closely that they could hardly 
breathe. But no one said “Oh!” No one 
grumbled. The consolation of knowing that 
in a few hours they would reach a country 
where there were no books, no schools, no 
schoolmasters, made them happy and 
resigned to anything, so that they did not 
feel hungry, or thirsty or uncomfortable. 

As soon as the coach stopped the fat 
driver turned to Candlewick, and with a 
thousand smirks and grimaces said to him, 
“Tell me, my fine lad, do you want to come 
with us to the finest country in the world?” 


PINOCCHIO 


197 


“Indeed I do.” 

“But you can see for yourself that there is 
no place inside. It is full.” 

“Never mind,” replied Candle wick, “if 
there is no place inside, I will sit on top of 
the coach,” and he jumped up and sat beside 
the driver. 

“And what about your friend?” said the 
driver, turning toward Pinocchio with flat¬ 
tering politeness. “What will he do? Are 
you coming with us too?” 

“I remain here,” replied Pinocchio. “I am 
going to return home. I prefer to study and 
be a good boy.” 

“What good will that do you?” 

“Listen to me, Pinocchio,” said Candle- 
wick, “come with us and we shall have such 
fun!” 

“No, no, no!” 

“Come with us and we shall have such 
fun!” cried four voices from inside the 
coach. 

“Come with us, and we shall have such 
fun!” came a chorus of voices. 

“And if I go with you, what will the good 




198 


PINOCCHIO 


Fairy say?” asked Pinocchio who was begin¬ 
ning to yield. 

“Never mind about that. Think of the 
beautiful country we are going to, where we 
shall be our own masters and make a glorious 
noise all day long.” 

Pinocchio did not reply, but he sighed, 
then he sighed again, and then a third time, 
and finally he said, “Make room for me. I 
am going with you.” 

“All the places are full,” replied the 
driver, “but if you wish, you may take my 
place.” 

“What will you do then?” 

“I will walk.” 

“No indeed, I cannot allow that. I prefer 
to ride on one of the donkeys,” said the 
puppet. Approaching the nearest donkey he 
tried to mount it, but the creature suddenly 
raised its hind feet, and threw Pinocchio 
off. Just imagine the impertinent laughter 
of all those boys as they saw this! 

Pinocchio, in a fury, made another jump 
to the donkey’s back, and the leap was so 
agile that the boys began to laugh and shout 
“Hurrah for Pinocchio!” and clap their hands 




PINOCCHIO 


199 


in glee. When they were ready to start the 
donkey again raised his hind feet and gave 
such a powerful kick that the marionette 
was thrown over on top of a heap of stones 
in the middle of the road. The boys roared 
with laughter, but the driver, instead of 
joining in the laugh, went over to the 
donkey, and seemed to be whispering some¬ 
thing in his ear, but in reality he gave it a 
sharp nip with his teeth. Then he said to 
Pinocchio: “Mount him again, and don’t be 
afraid. That donkey had a silly notion in 
his head, but I have spoken to him about it, 
and he will be more reasonable, now, I am 
sure.” 

So Pinocchio mounted and the coach 
started. As the donkeys galloped along, and 
the coach rattled along over the stony road 
the marionette fancied he heard a strange 
voice saying, “Poor simpleton! You insisted 
on having your own way, and you will be 
sorry.” 

Pinocchio, half frightened, looked from 
one side of the road to the other to see where 
the words came from, but he saw no one. 
The donkeys galloped, the coach rolled along, 




200 


PINOCCHIO 


the boys inside slept, Candlewick snored 
like a Dormouse, and the driver sang 
between his teeth: 

“All the night they sleep, 

But I never.” 

They made another mile. Again Pinocchio 
heard the voice. This time it said, “Bear in 
mind, simpleton, that boys who refuse to 
study, throw away their books and do 
nothing but play and amuse themselves will 
sooner or later come to a bad end. I know 
it for I have tried it, but I cannot say any 
more. Someday you will cry as I do now, 
but then it will be too late.” 

At these whispered words the marionette 
was more frightened than ever. Jumping to 
the ground he put his ear to the donkey’s 
nose. Imagine his surprise when he saw that 
the donkey was crying just like a little boy! 

“Mr. Coachman,” cried Pinocchio, “do you 
know that this donkey can cry, and just like 
a boy at that?” 

“Let him cry. He will laugh when he has 
some hay.” 

“But who taught him to talk?” 




PINOCCHIO 


201 


“He learned to say a few words when he 
lived for awhile in The Country of the 
Talking Animals.” 

“Poor beast!” 

“Come, Come! Don’t waste your time 
pitying a crying donkey. Jump on his back 
and let us be going.” 

Pinocchio obeyed in silence. The coach 
moved on, and as the sun came up they 
arrived in the Country of Nothing-But-Play. 
It was a country unlike any other in the 
world. The population was composed en¬ 
tirely of boys. The oldest was fourteen and 
the youngest scarcely eight. In the streets 
there was so much noise, shouting and blow¬ 
ing of trumpets that it was almost deafening. 
Everywhere groups of boys played at 
marbles, at shinny, at ball; some rode on 
velocipedes and wooden horses; some played 
hide and seek; others played tag, some sang, 
others jumped over benches; some walked on 
their hands with their feet in the air; others 
tried to kick over their heads; others were 
trundling hoops, or strutting about dressed 
as generals wearing paper helmets and com¬ 
manding cardboard soldiers; some were 





202 


PINOCCHIO 


laughing, some calling, some were whistling, 
and some made a noise like a hen that had 
just laid an egg. In fact there was such 
pandemonium that you would have to put 
cotton in your ears not to be deafened. 

In every open square canvas theaters had 
been put up, and they were crowded with 
boys from morning till night. On the walls 
of the houses there were sentences written in 
chalk or charcoal: “Long live playthings!” 
“We will have no more schools,” “Down with 
arithmetic!” and similar fine sentiments, all 
very badly misspelled. 

As soon as Pinocchio, Candlewick and all 
the other newcomers to this country had 
arrived, they joined the others and soon had 
made friends with everyone. So with games 
and amusements, the hours, the days, and 
the weeks passed like lightning. Who could 
have been happier than they? 

“Oh what a delightful life this is!” cried 
Pinocchio, every time he met Candlewick. 

“See! Wasn’t I right?” asked his friend, 
“You did not want to come. Just think! You 
wanted to return to the Fairy’s house and 
study! That you are free from all the annoy- 




PINOCCHIO 


203 


ances of school and its troubles today, you 
may thank me. True friends are the only 
ones who know how to render service to one 
another.” 

“It is true, Candlewick. If today I am a 
free and happy boy, I owe it all to you. Yet 
the schoolmaster used to say to me, ‘Do not 
associate with Candlewick, because he is a 
bad companion for you! and will only get you 
into trouble’,” 

“Poor master!” replied the other shaking 
his head, “I knew he disliked me, and spoke 
unkindly of me, but I will forgive him.” 

This happy life went on for five months. 
They never saw a book, they never studied 
a minute. They played from morning till 
night without a serious thought. But one 
morning when Pinocchio awoke he was sur¬ 
prised to find that something very disagree¬ 
able had happened, and the surprise and 
shock of it put him in a very bad humor. 




DONKEY FEVER 


What was the surprise? It was this, my 
dear little readers: When Pinocchio awoke 
that morning, and happened to scratch his 
head, he discovered—oh, just guess what he 
discovered! You know that the marionette 
had very small ears, so small that you could 
scarcely see them. Fancy then, how sur¬ 
prised he was, when he put his hand to his 
head, to find that during the night his ears 
had grown until they seemed a foot long. 
Hastily he went in search of a mirror, but 
not finding any, he poured some water into 




PINOCCHIO 


205 


a wash basin and there he saw reflected 
something that he certainly did not expect 
to see—two long magnificent donkey ears! 

Imagine the grief, the same, the despair 
of Pinocchio. He cried and screamed and 
beat his head against the wall, but the more 
he cried the more his ears grew and grew 
and grew, and hair began to appear on their 
tips. 

At the sound of his heart-rending cries a 
Dormouse, who lived on the same floor, 
hurried into the room. Seeing the marionette 
in such anguish she asked eagerly, “What is 
the matter with you, my dear little fellow 
lodger?” 

“I am sick, Mrs. Dormouse, very sick, and 
in a way that frightens me. Do you under¬ 
stand counting the pulse beats?” 

“A little.” 

“Then see if I have a fever.” 

The Dormouse took Pinocchio’s wrist in 
her paws, and after a moment said, “My 
friend, it grieves me, but I have bad news 
for you.” 

“What is it?” 

“You have a bad fever.” 




206 


PINOCCHIO 


“What kind?” 

“The donkey fever.” 

“I don’t know anything about that dis¬ 
ease,” replied Pinocchio, who really knew 
only too well. 

“Then I will explain it to you. In two or 
three hours you will be a donkey, a real 
donkey, like those that pulled the coach that 
brought you here.” 

“Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?” 
wailed Pinocchio, pulling his ears wildly, so 
that it must have been painful to him. 

“My dear,” said the Dormouse, “what can 
you do? You surely realize that it is a writ¬ 
ten law that those boys who do not want 
to study, who hate schools and school¬ 
masters, and who spend all their time enjoy¬ 
ing themselves, always end by becoming 
little donkeys.” 

“Is that really true?” 

“Of course it is. And now it is of no use 
to cry. You should have thought of it 
sooner.” 

“But it was not my fault. Believe me, the 
blame all rests on Candlewick.” 

“And who is Candlewick?” 




PINOCCHIO 


207 


“A friend of mine. I wanted to go back 
to school, I wanted to study and to be an 
honor to the good Fairy, but Candle wick 
said to me, ‘In the Country of Nothing-But- 
Play no one studies, and we can play from 
morning till night.’ ” 

“Why did you follow the advice of a bad 
companion?” 

“Why? Because, Mrs. Dormouse, I am a 
foolish heartless marionette. Oh, if I had 
only had a good heart I should never have 
left my good Fairy, who loved me like a 
Mother, and did so much for me. And by 
this time I should have been a little boy like 
all the rest instead of a marionette. Oh, if 
I had not met Candle wick!” 

He turned to the door. But when he 
reached it he remembered his donkey ears 
and being ashamed to be seen in public what 
do you think he did? He made a dunce cap, 
and putting it on his head, pulled it down 
over his ears. Then he set out to look for 
Candlewick, but for a long time he could not 
find him, though he sought in the streets, in 
the theaters, everywhere, and asked about 




208 


PINOCCHIO 


him of everyone he met. At last he went to 
his friend’s house, and knocked at the door. 

“Who is there?” called Candlewick from 
within. 

“It is I—Pinocchio.” 

“Wait a moment and I will open the door.” 

After half an hour the door opened, and 
Pinocchio saw that his friend was wearing 
a dunce cap too, drawn down over his ears. 
At the sight of that cap Pinocchio felt some¬ 
what consoled, for he thought to himself: 
“He has the same trouble, and is suffering 
from donkey fever too.” 

But pretending not to see anything he 
asked gayly, “How are you, my dear Candle- 
wick?” 

“As happy as a mouse in a piece of cheese.” 

“Are you answering that seriously?” 

“Why should I tell a story?” 

“Excuse my asking, but why do you wear 
that cap?” 

“The doctor ordered it because I had hurt 
my knee. And you, Pinocchio, why do you 
wear that big cap?” 

“The doctor ordered it because I had 
stubbed my toe.” 




PINOCCHIO 


209 



Pinocchio and Candlewick in Dunce Caps 


“Oh, poor Pinocchio!” 

“Oh, poor Candlewick!” 

After this there was a long silence, during 
which the two friends looked at each other 
steadily. At last the puppet said in a low 
voice, “Raise your cap just a little, will you?” 

“Never! And you?” 

“Never! You see I have an ear that is 
very painful.” 

“So have I.” 

“You too? And which ear hurts?” 

“Both. And you?” 

“Both. Can we both have the same 
malady?” 

“I fear so.” 

“Will you do me a favor, Candlewick?” 




210 


PINOCCHIO 


“With all my heart.” 

“Let me see your ears.” 

“Why not? But first let me see yours.” 

“No, you ought to do it first.” 

“No. After you, always.” 

“Very well then,” said the marionette, 
“let us make a bargain.” 

“All right. What is it?” 

“Let us both take off our caps at the same 
moment.” 

“All right. I agree.” 

“Ready then.” And Pinocchio began to 
count, “One! Two! Three!” 

At the word “three” the boys took off their 
caps and threw them into the air. And then, 
realizing that they were both smitten with 
the same misfortune, suddenly they began to 
laugh and laugh, and they laughed until they 
were weak from laughing. Then all at once 
Candlewick stopped, staggered, and chang¬ 
ing color, said to his friend; “Help! Help 
me, Pinocchio!” 

“What is the matter?” 

“Oh, dear me! I cannot stand up any 
longer!” 


PINOCCHIO 


211 


“Neither can I!” cried Pinocchio, and even 
as they were speaking, they fell on their 
hands and knees, and began to run around 
the room on all fours. And as they ran their 
arms became legs, their faces lengthened, 
and their bodies became covered with hair 
and their hands turned into hoofs. But the 
moment that was the worst for each of 
those wretched boys was when he felt a tail 
swishing behind him. Overcome by shame 
and grief, they tried to talk. Instead of sobs 
and cries, they could only bray like donkeys 
and say, “Hee-haw.” 

Just then there was a knock at the door, 
and they heard a voice outside saying: “Open 
the door! I am the driver of the coach that 
brought you here. Open the door at once or 
it will be the worse for you!” 





THE DANCING DONKEY 

Finding that the door remained shut the 
driver burst it in with a violent kick, and 
entering the room, said in his usual oily way: 
“Good boys! You bray very well. I recog¬ 
nized your voices and here I am to take you 
away.” 

At these words the two little donkeys grew 
silent. They hung their heads, drooped their 
ears, and put their tails between their legs. 
Then the driver patted them and smoothed 
their hair, after which he produced two 
leather straps and bridled them both. When 
he had curried them till they shone like two 
looking-glasses he led them to the market¬ 
place in the hope of selling them at a good 


PINOCCHIO 


213 


profit. Purchasers soon made their appear¬ 
ance. Candlewick was sold to a farmer whose 
donkey had died from overwork the day be¬ 
fore, and Pinocchio was bought by the 
director of a company of clowns and circus 
performers, to be taught to do tricks and 
capers. 

And now, my little readers, do you under¬ 
stand what trade the coachman followed? 
That wicked creature, who had a face as 
sweet as milk and honey, made frequent 
journeys around the world with his coach, 
and by fine promises gathered to him all the 
naughty boys that were tired of school and 
study. As soon as he had filled his coach he 
took them to the Country of Nothing-But- 
Play, where they could pass all their time 
in playing and having fun. When these poor 
foolish boys had played for a certain length 
of time without any study between times, 
they became donkeys, which he led away, 
and sold in the town, and in this way he had 
become very rich, with heaps and heaps of 
money. 

How Candlewick fared, is not known. We 
do know, however, that Pinocchio led a very 





214 


PINOCCHIO 



Pinocchio Is Led Out to Be Sold 


hard life from the first. When he was put 
in a stall his new master threw some straw 
into the manger, but Pinocchio after he had 
tried a mouthful, spit it out. Then his mas¬ 
ter, grumbling, gave him some hay, but that 
did not please him any better. 

“Oh, so you do not like hay?” cried the 
man in rage. “Well I will teach you to like 
it,” and taking a whip he gave the donkey a 
crack on the legs. 

Pinocchio gave a long bray of pain, “Hee¬ 
haw” as if to say, “I cannot eat straw.” 

“Then eat hay,” replied his master, who 










PINOCCHIO 


215 


understood donkey dialect very well. 

“Hee-haw! Hay gives me a stomach ache.” 

“Do you mean that a donkey like you 
thinks he should be fed on breast of jellied 
chicken?” asked the master, and gave him 
another lash of the whip. 

At the second stroke Pinocchio prudently 
kept quiet and said nothing. Meanwhile the 
stable was closed, and Pinocchio was left 
alone. He had not eaten anything for hours 
and he was very hungry. He opened his 
mouth and was surprised to find it so large. 
At last, finding nothing in the place but hay 
he took a little and after chewing it well he 
closed his eyes and swallowed. Then he said 
to himself: “This hay is not so bad after all. 
But how much better off I should have been 
if I had not run away! Now I should be eat¬ 
ing bread and sausage instead of this dry 
stuff. Oh my! Oh my!” 

When he awoke the next morning he 
searched his manger but he had eaten all the 
hay, so he took a mouthful of straw and tried 
that. It did not taste as good as Milanese 
rice or Neapolitan macaroni, but he managed 
to eat it. 




216 


PINOCCHIO 


“Oh dear!” he mused as he chewed it, “oh 
dear, if only I could warn other boys of my 
experience, how happy I would be. Oh dear! 
Oh dear!” 

“Oh dear!” repeated his master, entering 
the stable at that moment. “Do you think, 
donkey, that I have bought you just to watch 
you eat and drink? Oh no! I bought you to 
earn money for me. Come on, and I will 
teach you how to jump through hoops, and 
bow to the people, to dance the waltz and the 
polka and to stand on your hind legs.” 

Poor Pinocchio! He had a hard struggle. 
It took him three months to learn these 
things and he received many a blow from 
his teacher during the lessons. But the day 
finally came when the master could announce 
to the public a most extraordinary spectacle. 
Posters of all colors were pasted up on street 
corners everywhere, bearing the following 
interesting announcement: 

GRAND ENTERTAINMENT 
WILL TAKE PLACE TONIGHT 

There will be the usual wonderful feats of 
jumping and most surprising performances 


PINOCCHIO 


217 


Executed by all of the artists and by 
all the horses in this remarkable company 
and in addition 

There will be presented for the first time the 
Famous Little Donkey 
PINOCCHIO 
called 

THE DANCING STAR 
THE THEATRE WILL BE AS BRIGHT 
AS DAY 

That night as you can easily imagine, there 
was not a seat to be had in the house and all 
the standing room was taken an hour before 
the show began. The whole theater swarmed 
with little children, of all ages, who were 
eager to see the famous donkey, Pinocchio, 
dance. When the first part of the entertain¬ 
ment was over, the director of the company, 
in a black evening coat with white trousers 
and high shiny black boots, presented him¬ 
self to the public and after making a pro¬ 
found bow, shouted: 

“Respected public, ladies and gentlemen— 
The humble manager of this performance, 
passing through this great metropolis, de¬ 
sires me to say that it is his wish to have the 




218 


PINOCCHIO 


honor, not to say the pleasure, of presenting 
to this intelligent and distinguished audience 
a celebrated donkey that has already had the 
honor of dancing before His Majesty the 
Emperor and all the principal courts of 
Europe.” 

This discourse was received with much 
laughter and applause, but the cheers re¬ 
doubled and became a sort of hurricane as 
Pinocchio appeared in the ring. He was 
decked out for the occasion. He had a new 
bridle of shining leather with buckles of pol¬ 
ished brass, two white roses were stuck be¬ 
hind his ears, his mane was divided and 
curled and the curls tied with red ribbon. 
A wide band of gold and silver was tied 
around his body, and his tail was braided 
with velvet ribbons of all colors. In fact he 
was the most gorgeous donkey ever seen. 
The director presented him to the public 
with these words: 

“My respected auditors—I will not take up 
much of your time, but I wish to tell you 
some of the great difficulties I encountered 
and overcame in taming and teaching this 
animal which I found grazing among the 




PINOCCHIO 


219 


mountains on the plains of the tropics. Ob¬ 
serve, I pray you, how savagely his eyes 
roll. It seemed almost impossible to train 
him to behave like other domestic animals, 
and I had to use the whip as an argument, 
but all my advances were received with 
scorn, and he grew daily more savage. How¬ 
ever, I had noticed on his head a peculiar 
little bump, hard to see, but easily felt. Ac¬ 
cording to the medical faculty of Paris this 
indicates a talent for dancing, and I therefore 
began to teach him the art of using his feet. 
And now you may judge for yourselves how 
well I have succeeded with my task.” 

Here the director made another profound 
bow and turning to Pinocchio said, “Before 
going through your exercises salute this re¬ 
spected and intelligent audience.” 

Pinocchio obeyed, falling on his knees, and 
remaining there until the master cracked his 
whip and cried “Walk!” Then the donkey 
stood up on his four feet and began to walk 
around in a circle. 

“Now trot!” And Pinocchio began to trot. 

“Gallop!” And Pinocchio galloped. 




220 


PINOCCHIO 


“Full speed!” And Pinocchio ran as hard 
as he could. While he was running the 
director raising a pistol, fired twice. At the 
sound the donkey pretending to be hit, fell 
flat on the floor and lay there motionless. 
Rising to an outburst of applause which 
could be heard for miles, Pinocchio lifted his 
head and looked at the audience. In one of 
. the boxes he saw a beautiful lady wearing 
around her neck a heavy gold chain from 
which hung a medallion, and on the medal¬ 
lion was engraved the portrait of a puppet. 

“That is my picture! That lady is my 
Fairy” said Pinocchio to himself, recognizing 
her instantly. He tried to cry out “Oh my 
Fairy! Oh, my Fairy!” but instead of these 
words there burst from his throat such a 
braying that everyone laughed, especially the 
boys. Then the director, in order to teach 
him better manners than to bray at an audi¬ 
ence, gave him a blow on the nose with the 
handle of his whip. The poor donkey licked 
his nose at least a dozen times, hoping to 
ease his pain, but what was his despair, when, 
turning a second time toward the Fairy, he 
found that she had disappeared. 




PINOCCHIO 


221 


He thought he should die. His eyes filled 
with tears, and he began to cry. No one 
noticed it, however, not even the master, who 
cracked his whip and shouted: “Now show 
the people how well you can dance.” 

Pinocchio tried two or three times, but 
every time his feet slipped from under him. 
Finally with a great effort he danced, a few 
steps, but his hind feet slipped so badly that 
he fell to the floor in a heap. When at last 
he managed to get up he was so lame that 
he could hardly walk and had to be taken to 
his stall at once. 

“Bring out Pinocchio! We want the don¬ 
key! Bring him out!” cried the boys in the 
theater, unhappy over the accident. But the 
donkey was seen no more that night. The 
next morning the veterinary, that is the doc¬ 
tor of animals, paid him a visit and when he 
had examined the poor donkey declared that 
he would be lame for life. At that the direc¬ 
tor said to the stable boy, “What do we want 
of a lame donkey? He would only eat food 
without earning it. Take him to the market 
place and sell him for the best you can get.” 

When they reached the square they soon 




222 


PINOCCHIO 


found a buyer anxious to learn the price 
asked. 

“Four dollars,” replied the stable boy. 

“I will give you twenty-five cents for him. 
Do you suppose I am buying him to do haul¬ 
ing? Oh no. I want to skin him. I see that 
his skin is hard—it will be just the thing for 
a drum or a tambourine for our band.” 

Just imagine how poor Pinocchio felt when 
he heard that he was only worth twenty-five 
cents! And he was to be made into a drum 
head and beaten all the time! 

As soon as the buyer had paid for him he 
led the donkey to the top of a cliff along 
the seashore, and tying a heavy stone around 
his neck and binding his feet together with 
cords, he pushed the poor creature over the 
edge. The donkey, weighed down by the 
stone, sank to the bottom at once, and the 
buyer who held one end of the rope tightly 
in his hand, sat down on the rocks and waited 
patiently until the little donkey would 
drown, intending then to skin him. 



PINOCCHIO PLAYS JONAH 
After the donkey had been under water 
about an hour the purchaser said to himself, 
“Now my poor little lame donkey must be 
drowned by this time. I will pull him up 
and skin him and set to work on my drum.” 
And he began to pull on the rope that he 
had tied to the donkey’s leg. He pulled and 
pulled and pulled, and what do you think he 
saw emerge from the water? Instead of a 
dead donkey he saw a live puppett, kicking 
and struggling, twisting and wriggling like 
an eel. Seeing the marionette the man 
thought he was dreaming, and he stood there 
amazed, with his mouth open and his eyes 
nearly popping out of his head. When at last 
he found words, he said, 

“Where is the little donkey that I threw 
overboard?” 


224 


PINOCCHIO 


“I am that little 
donkey,” replied 
Pinocchio laughing. 
“You?” 

99 

“Oh, you little 
scamp ! Do you 
think that you can 
make fun of me like 
that?” 

“Make fun of 
you? On the con- 
Pinocchio is Pulled Up Again trary, I am entirely 
serious.” 

“But how is it that a little while ago you 
were a donkey, and now, after you have been 
in the water for an hour, you are a wooden 
marionette?” 

“Oh, that is the effect of sea water. The 
sea never tells its secrets, but this is one of 
its little tricks.” 

“Take care, puppet, take care! Don’t think 
you can pull the wool over my eyes that way. 
Woe to you if I lose all patience!” 

“Very well. Do you want to know the true 
story? Untie my legs and I will tell you.” 












PINOCCHIO 


225 


The buyer, curious to hear the real story, 
untied the knots that bound the marionette, 
and Pinocchio, finding himself as free as a 
bird in air said; “Well then, I was once a 
wooden puppet, just as I am now, and on the 
turn of becoming a boy, just like the others. 
But I listened to the advice of a bad com¬ 
panion, and one morning I awoke and found 
myself turned into a donkey with big ears 
and a long tail. How ashamed I felt when I 
saw that tail. Then I was led to a market 
place where a man bought me and taught me 
to do tricks and dance. One night when I 
was performing, I fell and sprained my leg 
so badly that I could hardly stand on it. 
Then my master, who did not want a lame 
donkey, sold me to you.” 

“Only too true! I paid twenty-five cents 
for you. And now who will give my money 
back to me?” 

“Yes, and why did you buy me? You 
planned to beat me by stretching my skin 
over a drum!” 

“Very true, but where shall I find another 
skin?” 

“That is not for me to say.” 


226 


PINOCCHIO 


“Does your story end here?” 

“No,” replied the marionette, “a few more 
words and then I shall be done. After you 
bought me you led me here to kill me, but 
then, being a kind man, you decided to drown 
me. This attention on your part was most 
honorable, and I shall always remember 
your goodness. You would certainly have 
succeeded in drowning me too, if it had not 
been for the good Fairy.” 

“Who is this Fairy?” 

“She is my mother, who like all the other 
mothers in the world loves her child and 
never forgets him, and always helps him no 
matter how bad he is. She loved me and tried 
to make me a good and studious boy. As 
soon as the good Fairy saw I was in danger 
of drowning she sent a school of fishes, 
which, believing I really was a dead donkey, 
began to eat me. And what mouthfuls they 
took! Some ate my ears, some ate my legs 
and mane, some my back, and there was one 
big fish that ate my tail at one bite. When 
the fish had eaten everything they came at 
last to the bones—or rather they came to the 
wood. Finding that too hard for their teeth, 


PINOCCHIO 


227 


they went away without even looking back 
to say goodby.” 

“I do not believe your silly story,” said the 
man in a rage. “I know I have spent twenty- 
five cents and I want my money back. Do 
you know what I am going to do? I shall 
take you back to the market place and sell 
you for a piece of kindling wood.” 

“All right!” said Pinocchio, but as he said 
it he jumped into the water and swimming 
lightly away from the shore, called to the 
angry man, “Goodby, dear sir! if you ever 
want a drumhead don’t forget me!” And he 
laughed and kept on swimming. Then after 
a while he turned again and shouted ‘Good¬ 
by, dear sir! If you want a piece of kindling 
wood, don’t forget me.” 

Then almost in the twinkling of an eye he 
was so far away that he could hardly be seen. 
There was only a little black speck on the 
water, splashing around like a jolly dolphin. 
Meanwhile, as Pinocchio swam, he saw not 
far away a rocky island that seemed to be 
made of white marble. On the top of it stood 
a beautiful little goat that bleated and made 
signs to him to swim nearer. The most sing- 




228 


PINOCCHIO 


ular thing about this goat was the color of 
its wool. It was not white, or black, or any 
color that goats usually have, but blue, just 
like the hair of the beautiful Fairy. Imagine 
how the heart of Pinocchio began to pound. 

He redoubled his efforts to reach the rock, 
and when he was halfway there he saw rising 
from the water the horrible head of a sea 
monster with mouth opened wide like a gulf 
and three rows of enormous teeth that would 
frighten you, even to see them painted in a 
picture book. Can you guess who that 
monster was? It was none other than the 
huge dogfish mentioned several times in this 
story, and which, on account of its blood¬ 
thirsty nature was called The Terror of 
Fishes and Fishermen. 

Imagine the terror of poor Pinocchio at 
sight of the monster. He tried to avoid him, 
to change his direction. He tried to escape, 
but that immense open mouth kept coming 
toward him with the speed of an arrow. 

“Hurry, Pinocchio!” called the goat, bleat¬ 
ing loudly. And Pinocchio swam desperately 
with his arms, legs, chest and feet. 

“Hurry, Pinocchio, the monster is almost 


229 


l 

PINOCCHIO 


on you!” and Pinocchio, gathering his forces, 
redoubled his strokes. 

“Look out! Look out! He is gaining! 
Hurry! Oh, hurry, or you are lost!” Pinoc¬ 
chio swam faster than ever, and away they 
raced as fast as cannon balls. As they neared 
the rock the goat held out its two front paws 
to help Pinocchio out of the water. But— 
It was too late! The monster had overtaken 
him. Drawing in its breath it sucked in 
Pinocchio, just as it would have sucked an 
egg, and swallowed him with such violence 
that the marionette fell into the monster’s 
stomach with such force that he was stunned 
for a quarter of an hour. When he came to 
himself after being swallowed he could not 
realize where he was. All around him was 
darkness so intense that he thought he had 
fallen head first into an ink bottle. He 
listened, but could hear nothing. From time 
to time he felt a great gust of wind striking 
his face. At first he could not understand 
where it came from, but later he discovered 
it was from the lungs of the monster; for 
you must know, little readers, that the dog¬ 
fish suffered greatly from asthma, and when 




230 


PINOCCHIO 


he breathed it seemed like the North Wind 
blowing. 

At first Pinocchio tried to be brave, but 
when he had hunted and hunted for a way 
out and found he was fast in the body of the 
great fish he began to cry and scream: “Help! 
Help! Oh, dear me! Is there no one to 
save me?” 

“Who wants to be saved?” asked a voice 
that sounded in the darkness like a guitar 
out of tune. 

“Who is that speaking?” asked Pinocchio, 
nearly frozen with fear. 

“It is I. I am a poor Tunny fish who was 
swallowed at the same time you were. What 
kind of a fish are you?” 

“I am no fish. I am a marionette.” 

“Then why, if you are not a fish, did you 
let yourself be swallowed by the monster?” 

“I couldn’t help it. And now what shall 
we do in this dark place?” 

“We must resign ourselves to our fate and 
wait until we are digested.” 

“But I do not want to be digested,” said 
Pinocchio, beginning to cry again. 




PINOCCHIO 


231 


“Neither do I,” replied the Tunny, “but I 
am philosopher enough to console myself 
with the thought that it is more dignified, 
if one is a Tunny fish, to die under water 
than to be soaked in vinegar.” 

“Nonsense!” cried Pinocchio. 

“It is my opinion,” replied the Tunny, “and 
the opinions of fishes should be respected.” 

“As for me,” Pinocchio went on, “I want 
to get away from here. I want to escape.” 

“Well, escape if you can.” 

“Is the Dogfish very large?” asked the 
marionette. 

“Why, his body is a mile long without 
counting his tail.” 

As they were talking, Pinocchio thought 
he saw in the distance a little glimmer of 
light. “What can that be?” he asked. 

“Probably some poor unfortunate like our¬ 
selves, waiting to be digested.” 

“Well, I am going to find out. It may be 
some old fish that can tell me the way out 
of here.” 

“I wish you luck, my poor marionette.” 

“Goodby, Tunny.” 




232 


PINOCCHIO 


“Goodby, marionette, and good luck go 
with you!” 

“When shall we meet again?” 

“Who knows? It is better not to think of 
it.” 












A MEETING AND AN ESCAPE 


As soon as Pinocchio had said goodby to 
his friend the Tunny, he began to grope his 
way in the darkness through the body of the 
fish, advancing toward the little light that 
shone so far away. The farther he walked 
the clearer and brighter became the light, 
until finally he reached the end of the pas¬ 
sage. And what did he find? I will give you 
a thousand guesses. He found a little table 
all nicely set, and lighted by a candle stuck 
into a green bottle. Seated at the table, he 
saw a little old man with snow-white beard 
and hair, eating fish. At the sight of the old 
man Pinocchio was so overjoyed that he 
nearly lost his senses. He wanted to laugh; 
he wanted to cry. He did not know what to 





234 


PINOCCHIO 


do. He could only stammer a few confused 
sounds, for words would not come. Then 
with a cry of joy he ran to the old man, 
threw his arms around him, and shouted; 
“Oh, my dear father! I have found you at 
last! Now I will never, never, leave you 
again!” 

“Do my eyes tell me the truth?” asked 
the old man rubbing them, “Do I really see 
my dear Pinocchio?” 

“Yes, yes, I really am Pinocchio. And you 
have already forgiven me, haven’t you, 
father? How good you are! And to think 
that I—Oh, but if you only knew how many 
things have happened to me since the day 
you sold your coat for my ABC book!” 
and hurriedly Pinocchio gave him a wild and 
jumbled account of his adventures from that 
moment up to the time when he had seen 
Geppetto far out at sea in a little boat. 

“I recognized you,” he said, “because my 
heart told me that you were there, and I 
made signs for you to come back to shore.” 

“I recognized you, too,” said Geppetto, 
“and I wanted to go back, but how could I? 
The sea was so rough and my boat was so 


PINOCCHIO 


235 


frail. Then a horrible Dogfish came up near 
me, put out its tongue, and swallowed me as 
if I had been a pill.” 

“And how long have you been shut up 
here?” asked Pinocchio. 

“It must be two years, Pinocchio, and it 
has seemed like two centuries.” 

“And how have you managed to live? And 
where did you find the candle and the 
matches to light it?” 

“I will tell you. Luckily when the Dogfish 
swallowed me he swallowed my boat too and 
all my belongings.” 

“What? He swallowed all in one mouth¬ 
ful?” asked Pinocchio in surprise. 

“All in one mouthful. As the boat was 
loaded with preserved meat, figs, biscuits, 
wine, raisins, coffee, sugar, candles, and 
matches, I was well supplied. Today, how¬ 
ever, I am burning my last candle.” 

“And after that?” 

“Why after that, my dear boy, we shall 
both be left in darkness.” 

“Then father,” said Pinocchio, “there is no 
time to lose. We must hurry and plan to 
escape.” 




236 


PINOCCHIO 


“How?” 

“Why we must escape through the mouth 
of the Dogfish and throw ourselves into the 
sea.” 

“But I do not know how to swim.” 

“That does not matter. You can get on 
my back, and I will take you to shore.” 

“You are dreaming, my boy,” said Gep- 
petto, shaking his head. 

“Try it and see. Anyhow we shall have 
the consolation of trying.” And without 
further words, Pinnochio took the candle 
and started to walk toward the mouth of the 
Dogfish. “Come along, and do not be afraid, 
father” he said. 

They walked along for some time down 
the whole length of the monster’s stomach. 
When they reached the end of it they 
stopped to look about carefully to choose the 
best time and means of escape. Now, fortu¬ 
nately, the Dogfish, being very old and suf¬ 
fering from asthma, and palpitation of the 
heart, was obliged to sleep with his mouth 
open. Pinocchio, therefore, looking up 
through the great throat, saw the starry 
heavens and the light of the moon beyond 


PINOCCHIO 


237 


the huge jaws. 

“This is the moment to escape,” whispered 
Pinocchio to Geppetto; “the Dogfish is sleep¬ 
ing, the sea is calm, and it is as light as day. 
Come on, father. Follow me, and we shall 
soon be safe.” 

They mounted the throat of the sea mon¬ 
ster, and reaching the immense mouth, began 
to walk on tiptoe along the tongue. Suddenly 
the Dogfish sneezed. The candle was blown 
out, and both Geppetto and Pinocchio were 
given a violent shake and found themselves 
back once more in the stomach of the 
Dogfish. 

“Now we are really lost,” cried Geppetto. 

“Give me your hand, and be careful not to 
slip.” 

“Where are you leading me?” 

“Come along, and don’t be afraid,” and 
with this Pinocchio took his father’s hand, 
and again they mounted the throat of the 
monster on tiptoe. Passing along the tongue 
and between the three rows of teeth they 
found themselves out in the air at last. 

“Now, get on my back,” said Pinocchio, 
“and hold on tight. Leave the rest to me.” 




238 


PINOCCHIO 


And as soon as Geppetto put his arms 
around Pinocchio’s neck the brave mario¬ 
nette began to swim. The sea was as smooth 
as oil, the moon shone brightly, and the Dog¬ 
fish was sleeping so soundly that not even 
a cannon shot would have awakened him. 




A BOY AT LAST 

As Pinocchio was swimming as fast as he 
could toward the shore, he noticed that his 
father, who clung to his shoulders, shivered 
as if he had ague. Was he trembling from 
cold or fear? Perhaps a little of both. But 
Pinocchio, thinking that it was fear, said to 
him, in a comforting tone, “Courage, father! 
In a few moments we shall arrive on shore 
safe and sound.” 

“But where is the shore?” asked the old 
man, becoming more and more uneasy, and 
straining his eyes to see it, just as tailors do 
when they thread a needle. “Here we have 
been swimming all night, and still I see only 
sky and sea.” 


240 


PINOCCHIO 


“But I see the shore,” said the marionette. 
“Due to your skill in carving me I can see in 
the night as well as a cat.” 

Poor Pinocchio pretended to be in a very 
hopeful mood, but really he was beginning 
to lose heart. His strength was failing, and 
his breath growing shorter. He could not 
swim much longer and the shore was still 
very far off. He kept on until he had no more 
breath. Then he turned his head toward 
Geppetto, and said in broken tones; “Help 
me, father, help me—I am drowning!” 

The father and his son were nearly 
drowned when they heard a voice, like a 
guitar out of tune, saying, “Who is going to 
drown?” 

“It is I and my poor father.” 

“I recognize that voice. You are Pinoc¬ 
chio.” 

“Exactly, and who are you?” 

“I am the Tunny, your companion in the 
stomach of the Dogfish.” 

“How did you escape?” 

“I followed your example. You showed me 
the way, and after I saw you go, I followed.” 




PINOCCHIO 


241 


‘Oh, my friend, you have come just in 
time! I implore you, for the love you bear 
your little tunny fishes, to help us, or we are 
lost!” 

“With all my heart! Take hold of my tail, 
and in a few minutes we shall reach land.” 

As you may easily imagine, Geppetto and 
Pinocchio accepted the invitation without 
any argument. 

“Are we too heavy?” asked Pinocchio. 

“Heavy? Why you are like two feathers. 
It seems to me that I have two small shells 
clinging to my tail.” 

When they reached the shore Pinocchio 
was the first to scramble out and he helped 
his father to do the same. Then he turned 
to the Tunny, and with a voice trembling 
with emotion said: “My friend, you have 
saved my father’s life and mine, too. I do 
not know how to thank you. Let me kiss you 
as a sign of eternal friendship.” 

The Tunny put his nose out of the water 
and Pinocchio, kneeling on the sand, kissed 
the fish tenderly. At this sign of affection, 
the poor Tunny, who was not accustomed 
to such kindness, felt so moved by it that he 





242 


PINOCCHIO 


began to cry like a baby, and plunged into 
the water to hide his tears. 

By this time the sun had risen. Pinocchio, 
offering his arm to his father who was almost 
exhausted, said, “Lean on my arm, dear 
father, and let us go on. We will walk as 
slowly as ants, and when we are tired we can 
rest by the roadside.” 

“And where shall we go?” asked Geppetto. 

“In search of a house where we can get a 
bite to eat and some straw to lie down upon.” 

But they had not gone a hundred feet 
when they saw by the roadside two evil 
looking individuals begging. It was the fox 
and the cat, but one could hardly have 
recognized them. Just think! The cat had 
pretended to be blind so long that she really 
had become so; and the fox was old and 
mangy, half paralyzed, and had lost his tail. 

“Oh Pinocchio,” cried the fox, “give a little 
charity to two old people.” 

“Two old people,” repeated the cat. 

“Get away, you imposters,” replied Pinoc¬ 
chio, “you deceived me once, and now you 
are paying for it. You’ll not fool me again.” 




PINOCCHIO 


243 


“Believe us, Pinocchio, today we are really 
poor and starving,” said the fox. “Really,” 
repeated the cat. 

“If you are poor, you deserve it. Remem¬ 
ber the proverb that says ‘Stolen money will 
never bear fruit!’ Goodby, deceivers!” 

“Have compassion on us.” 

“On us,” said the cat. 

“Goodby. Remember the proverb that 
says, ‘Stolen wheat always makes poor 
bread’.” 

“Do not abandon us,” begged the fox. 

“No, no!” cried the cat. 

“Goodby. Remember the proverb, ‘Who¬ 
ever steals his neighbor’s coat usually dies 
without a shirt’.” 

And Geppetto and Pinocchio went on their 
way. A few yards farther on they saw a 
little straw house with a tile roof. “That 
place must be lived in by someone,” said 
Pinocchio, “Let us knock at the door.” 

“Who is there?” asked a small voice inside, 
when they had reached the house. 

“We are a poor father and his son, and 
without bread or a home,” replied the mari¬ 
onette. 





244 


PINOCCHIO 


“Turn the key and the door will open,” 
said the same voice. 

Pinocchio turned the key and the door 
opened, but though they entered the house 
and looked all around, they saw no one. 

“Where is the master of the house?” asked 
Pinocchio, in surprise. 

“Here I am, up here.” 

Geppetto and the puppet turned quickly 
and there on a rafter they saw the Talking 
Cricket. 

“Oh, my dear cricket!” said Pinocchio, 
bowing politely to him. 

“Oh, now you call me your dear cricket do 
you? But do you remember the time when 
you struck me with a hammer to drive me 
away from the house?” 

“Oh you are right, Cricket, to scold me. 
Take a hammer and drive me away if you 
will, but have pity on my poor father.” 

“I will have pity on you both, but I wanted 
to remind you of your bad manners, and to 
teach you, if I could, that in this world we 
should show courtesy to everybody if we 
want it to be extended to us in our time of 
need.” 


PINOCCHIO 


245 


“You are right, Cricket, you are right. I 
will bear in mind the lesson you have taught 
me. But tell me how did you build such a 
nice large house?” 

“This little house was given to me yester¬ 
day by a beautiful Goat with blue wool.” 

“And where has the Goat gone?” asked 
Pinocchio with lively curiosity. 

“I do not know.” 

“And when will it come back?” 

“Never. Yesterday it went away bleating 
in distress, and I thought I heard it say, 
‘Poor Pinocchio! I shall never see him again. 
The Dogfish has swallowed him’!” 

“Did it say that? Then it was the Fairy. 
It was my dear beautiful Fairy,” exclaimed 
Pinocchio, and he began to cry. After he had 
cried a long time he dried his eyes, and pre¬ 
pared a comfortable bed of straw for Gep- 
petto. Then he said to the Talking Cricket, 
“Tell me, Cricket, where can I find a glass of 
milk for my poor father?” 

“Three fields from here you will find a 
farmer called Giangio, who keeps cows. Go 
to him and you can get some milk.” 




246 


PINOCCHIO 


Pinocchio ran all the way to Giangio’s 
house, and said to the farmer, 

“Will you please give me some milk?” 

“How much do you want?” 

“I want a glassful.” 

“A glass of milk costs one penny. Where 
is the money?” 

“I have none,” answered Pinocchio, morti¬ 
fied. 

“If you have no money, I have no milk.” 

“I am so sorry!” said Pinocchio, and turned 
to go. 

“Wait a moment,” said the farmer, “I 
think we can arrange matters. Do you know 
how to draw water from a well with a well 
sweep?” 

“I can try.” 

“Well, draw a hundred buckets of water 
for me, and I will give you a glass of milk.” 

“All right! It’s a bargain.” 

Pinocchio worked so hard that when he 
had finished he was wet with perspiration. 
He had never felt so tired in all his life. 

“I have a little donkey that usually draws 
the water for me,” said Giangio “but today 
he is sick, poor thing!” 



PINOCCHIO 


247 


“May I see him?” asked Pinocchio. 

“Yes, indeed. He’s over there in the 
stable.” 

As Pinocchio entered the barn he saw a 
beautiful little donkey stretched on the 
straw, and apparently worn out with over¬ 
work. Pinocchio recognized him at once. “I 
think I know that donkey,” he said. Bending 
down and speaking to it in the donkey lan¬ 
guage he said, “Who are you?” 

At the question the donkey opened his 
tired eyes and replied in the same language, 
“I am Candlewick,” and then he closed his 
eyes again. 

“Oh, my poor Candlewick,” said Pinocchio 
in a low voice, and wiped the tears from his 
eyes. 

“Why do you take so much interest in a 
donkey that cost you not a cent? I paid real 
money for him.” 

“I will tell you. He was a friend of mine.” 

“A friend?” 

“Yes, a schoolmate.” 

“Well, well!” shouted Giangio, bursting 
into laughter. “So you had donkeys for 




248 


PINOCCHIO 


schoolmates! What a wonderful school you 
must have gone to!” 

The marionette felt so mortified at these 
words that he took the glass of milk in 
silence and returned to the Cricket’s house 
in haste. 

But from that day for more than five 
months, Pinocchio continued to get up at 
daybreak to draw water for the farmer each 
morning, receiving only a little milk for his 
work. But he was not satisfied with doing 
that only. He learned to make straw mats 
and baskets and sold them to buy food for 
their daily needs. Among other things he 
made a little wheel chair, so that he could 
take his father out on fine days for a little 
fresh air. In the evenings he practiced read¬ 
ing and writing. Indeed he became so in¬ 
dustrious that he was able to maintain him¬ 
self and Geppetto in comfort and finally man¬ 
aged to save forty pennies to buy himself a 
new suit. One morning he said to Geppetto, 
“I am going to the market to buy a jacket, a 
cap, and a pair of shoes. When I come back 
I shall be dressed so fine you will take me for 
a real gentleman.” 


PINOCCHIO 


249 


Leaving the house he began to run and 
jump because he was so happy. Suddenly he 
heard himself called by name, and turning, he 
saw a big snail crawling out from under the 
hedge. 

“Don’t you know me?” asked the snail. 

“It seems to me—it seems—” 

“Don’t you remember the Snail that lived 
with the Beautiful Fairy with the Blue Hair, 
and how I came downstairs to let you in the 
time you put your foot through the door?” 

“I remember it all,” shouted Pinocchio. 
“But tell me, where is my beautiful Fairy 
now?” 

To these words the Snail replied with her 
usual slowness, “The Beautiful Fairy lies ill 
in a hospital.” 

“In a hospital?” 

“Yes. Overtaken by a thousand misfor¬ 
tunes, she has fallen ill, and is so poor that 
she has not enough to buy a mouthful of 
bread each day.” 

“Really? Oh, what a shock you have given 
me! Oh, my poor Fairy, my poor Fairy! If 
I had a million I would give it all to you, but 
I have only forty cents. Here it is. I was 




250 


PINOCCHIO 


going to buy some clothes with it, but that 
can wait. Here, take my money, Snail, and 
carry it to the good Fairy at once.” 

“And what about your new clothes?” 

“What does that matter? I would even sell 
these rags to help her. Go now, Snail, and 
in two days come back, and I will have some 
more money for you. From now on I will 
support my good Fairy, too. I will work five 
hours more each day.” 

Contrary to her usual habit the Snail really 
ran as if a bird were after her, and Pinocchio 
returned home. “Where are your new 
clothes?” asked Geppetto. 

“I heard from the Snail that my good Fairy 
was ill in a hospital, and so poor she could 
not buy food, so I sent her the forty cents,” 
he answered. 

That night, instead of going to bed at ten, 
Pinocchio worked until midnight. Then he 
went to bed and fell asleep at once. And 
while he slept he thought he saw the good 
Fairy, all beautiful and happy and smiling, 
bend down to kiss him, and he thought he 
heard her say; “Well done, Pinocchio! For 
your good heart I will forgive all your past 





He Had Become a Boy 










































































































252 


PINOCCHIO 


misdeeds. Boys that help their parents lov¬ 
ingly in their troubles always deserve praise 
and affection.” 

At this Pinocchio’s dream ended, and he 
opened his eyes suddenly. But imagine his 
great surprise, upon waking, to find he was 
no longer a wooden marionette, but had be¬ 
come a boy like all the others! He looked 
around him, and saw instead of a bed of 
straw and the straw walls of the cottage, a 
well furnished room in a comfortable house. 
Jumping out of bed, he found a nice new 
suit ready for him, a new cap and a pair of 
new shoes, just the right size. As soon as he 
was dressed, like all boys who have a new 
suit, he put his hands into his pockets, and 
pulled out a small mother-of-pearl pocket- 
book, on which was written: “The Fairy 
with the Blue Hair returns the forty cents 
to her dear Pinocchio, and thanks him with 
all her heart.” Opening the purse he found, 
instead of forty pennies, forty pieces of gold. 

Then he went to look in the mirror that 
hung on his wall, and did not know himself 
at all, for he no longer saw the reflection of 
a wooden puppet, but the image of a bright 




PINOCCHIO 


253 



The Old Puppet Leaning 
Against a Chair 


and intelligent boy with chestnut hair and 
large bright eyes. Pinocchio was bewildered, 
and yet as happy and joyful as if it were a 
holiday. In the midst of these marvels that 
had happened one after another he could not 
tell whether it was all real or whether it was 
a dream. 

“Where is my father?” he asked suddenly 
and running into the next room he found old 
Geppetto well and lively and in good humor. 
He had resumed his old profession of wood- 



254 


PINOCCHIO 


carving and was hard at work. 

“What does it all mean, dear father?” 
asked Pinocchio. 

“It means that you must try to deserve all 
this beautiful house,” said Geppetto. “This 
sudden change in our fortunes is all your 
doings.” 

“But how can that be possible?” 

“Because when bad boys become good, 
they cause everything to change for the 
better, and bring happiness to the whole 
family.” 

“And the old wooden Pinocchio—where is 
it?” 

“There it is,” replied Geppetto, and he 
pointed to a wooden marionette leaning 
against a chair with its head limply on one 
side, its arms dangling down, and its legs 
crossed, so that it was a wonder that it stood 
at all. 

Pinocchio turned to look at his old self, 
and after he had regarded it for a while, he 
said with great satisfaction; “How naughty 
I was when I was a marionette! And how 
happy I am now that I have become a real, 
live boy!” 


PINOCCHIO 


255 






THIS 
IS My 

SToay 







































































